ICJ rules US should review cases of 51 Mexicans on death row

In a move hailed by human rights campaigners, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the United States on Wednesday to "review and reconsider" the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row.
"The United States of America shall provide, by means of its own choosing, review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence," presiding judge Shi Jiuyong of China said in a summary of the judgement.
The decision, which is not binding, was welcomed by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) which said it "could save lives".
"Giving defendants access to consular officials means that they can get good defence lawyers as soon as they are arrested - the surest way to prevent miscarriages of justice and avoid the death penalty," Reed Brody a lawyer for HRW in Brussels said.
Mexico filed its complaint against Washington at the ICJ, the United Nations' highest judiciary organ, in January last year.
It accuses the United States of violating the 1963 Vienna Convention by not informing foreign prisoners that they are entitled to consular assistance or legal help from their government.
That leaves foreign prisoners, who do not always speak or understand English, at a disadvantage when they are put on trial, Mexico has argued.
Last year Mexico asked the court to order the United States to suspend the executions of 52 Mexican prisoners on death row.
In February 2003 the court ordered a temporary stay of execution for three of the Mexicans, whose executions were imminent. It did not order a similar stay for the others because it said there was no immediate danger of their being put to death.
On Wednesday the court ruled that the United States had violated the rights of Mexican prisoners in 51 cases and ordered Washington to review those cases. Mexico's claim for another one of its citizens on death row was rejected because he waived his right to consular assistance.
The 51 Mexicans the decision applies to are scattered across at least half a dozen US states and it is unclear what form the reviews will take.
In a first reaction the US ambassador to the Netherlands Clifford Sobel, who was present at the hearing, said the full text of the judgement first had to be studied by the appropriate authorities in the United States before they would comment in depth.