Appeal

0n January 19, 1999, the Philippine Supreme Court lifted the temporary restraining order on the execution of Leo Echegaray issued hours before Mr Echegaray was to be executed.

Appeals are urgently requested from health professionals.

The death penalty is a violation of the right to life as guaranteed in many international human rights standards, including Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It carries a risk of irreversible judicial error, heightened by credible reports of the use of torture to extract confessions in the Philippines. Executions themselves are inhumane, and not rendered humane by the use of lethal injection as execution method. President Estrada is urged to commute the death sentence passed on Leo Echegaray

Send appeals to: President Joseph Estrada, Malacanang Palace, Manila, Philippines. Fax: +63.2.73 1.1325

[via Press Secretary to the President] or: +63.2X33.7793 [via Department of Foreign Affairs} Email: president@ philippines. gov. ph; Serafin Cuevas, Secretary of Justice Department of Justice, Padre Faura, Ermita, Manila Philippines Fax: +63.2.52 I. 16 14; Domingo Siazon Jr, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DFA Building, 2330 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City Metro Manila, Philippines. Fax: +63.7 1 I .9503; Philippine Medical Association P. O. Box 4039 1Manila Philippines Fax: +63.2.929.4974

Send copies of your letter to the medical association in your country, mentioning Amnesty International’s concerns and noting that medical ethics forbid participation of’ health professionals in executions and to representatives of the Philippines accredited to your country.