MPs to urge RP to review penalty

MPs to urge RP to review penalty

TOKYO (AFP): Lawmakers here are to petition Philippine President Fidel Ramos for a review of the case of a Japanese man sentenced to death for possessing 1.9 kilograms of marijuana, a daily said yesterday.

A total of 24 members of parliament from both ruling and opposition parties are to send a letter to Ramos asking for a review on the sentence on Eiji Suzuki, 39, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

Suzuki, from Aichi prefecture, central Japan, was reportedly arrested in April 1994 at the airport of Bacolod, Negros island, for illegal possession of the drug.

Nobuaki Futami, a lower house member who advocates the abolition of death penalty in Japan, told the paper: "I hear that he was interrogated without an interpreter though he could speak neither English nor a local language."

"We are not interfering in the Philippines' legal system. We are sending the letter to ask for fair judgment," Futami was quoted as saying. Human rights group Amnesty International has moved to support Suzuki, who has insisted that he was framed.