Spotlight on US Death Row - Briton marks 17 years

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 27th Jan 2004

Sarah Ludford MEP is pictured with George Ryan and Leroy Orange, a prisoner he pardoned due to severe doubt about the integrity of the conviction and his growing opposition to the death penalty, at an anti-death penalty meeting in the European Parliament.

London Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford, European justice spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, has welcomed the nomination of former governor of Illinois George Ryan for the Nobel Peace Prize. This coincides with the anniversary (today) marking 17 years on death row for Briton Kenny Richey.

"George Ryan made a courageous move a year ago in commuting the sentences of 167 death row inmates in the state where he was the retiring governor. But many others, for instance Briton Kenny Richey, still have to live under the shadow of this barbaric sentence.

"Amnesty has called his case 'one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever come across" and indeed US authorities have even admitted the value of new evidence. They claim however that it cannot be admitted at this late stage.

"Campaigns such as that of ex-Governor Ryan together with cases such as Kenny Richey underline the inhumanity of a justice system that continues to use the death penalty. Awarding George Ryan the Nobel Prize would send a strong message to the US that the death penalty has no place in a modern justice system."

Sarah Ludford MEP is submitting a petition to US authorities and to the UK government, signed by many of her colleagues in the European Parliament calling for urgent action in reviewing Kenny Richey's case.