THE Irish section of Amnesty International has said the bomb which marred the Olympic games in Atlanta is no excuse for the death penalty.
The atrocity had led to calls for its introduction from US politicians and President Clinton's suggestion that whoever was caught should face the death penalty was "wholly inappropriate", Amnesty said.
Officials of the state of Georgia, in their bid to host the Olympic games, said Atlanta "embodies the values of human liberty and equality as well as any city on earth".
Amnesty believed these claims were contradicted by the state's violation of human rights in its use of the death penalty on 20 occasions since 1976. On April 30th, 103 prisoners remained under sentence of death.