THE EDITOR, Sir:
PRIME MINISTER P.J Patterson has said that it was inaccurate for Mr. Ken Jones of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs to say in a letter to the Editor of The Gleaner published on October 10, 2002, that Jamaica maintained a "deafening silence" on the matter of the "death by stoning" sentence passed on a Nigerian young woman.
The Prime Minister had in fact responded to a request made to him in writing from the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs on August 26, 2002 which asked for the Prime Minister's "urgent intervention by asking the Nigerian authorities to ensure that the sentence is not carried out and that justice be tempered with mercy."
Acting upon the request, Mr. Patterson wrote to the President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo telling him that several groups in Jamaica had joined with many others in the international community to express shock and horror at the sentencing of "death by stoning" decreed for the young mother under Islamic laws.
The Prime Minister in his letter to the Nigerian President said he felt confident in conveying the concerns of the Jamaican Government in view of the President's own clear denunciation of such harsh punishment.
He told President Obasanjo that Jamaica was hoping that the constitutional and religious factors surrounding the issue would be resolved in a mutually satisfactory manner, "paving the way for a strong platform for ethnic peace and unity among all ethnic and religious groups in our sister country."
Mr. Patterson informed the Institute through a letter dated September 24, 2002 that he had written to the Nigerian President in response to the Institute's request.
I am, etc.,
GRANVILLE NEWELL
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
1 Devon Road
Kingston 10
