Texas execution despite international objections

Texas has executed a Mexican national despite objections by the international judicial body and neighbouring Mexico.

Jose Medellin, 33, was given a lethal injection in the state's death chamber in Huntsville over the 1993 rape and murder of 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena in Houston.

Medellin lost his bid late on Tuesday for a last-minute stay from the US Supreme Court.

But in July, the World Court ordered the US government to "take all measures necessary" to halt the upcoming executions of five Mexicans, including Medellin's, on the grounds that they had been deprived of their right to consular services after their arrests.

Medellin's execution is sure to anger neighbouring Mexico and analysts have said it could make life rough for Americans arrested abroad if other countries decide to evoke the US example and deprive them of their right to consular services.

This typically means diplomats will visit and provide legal advice to their nationals being held by authorities.

Texas, which executes far more convicts than any other US state, had taken the view that the brutal nature of Medellin's crimes rendered him unfit for a reprieve or lesser sentence.

The political fall-out has reached the White House and the US Supreme Court.

US President George W Bush directed his native Texas to comply with a World Court ruling in 2004 mandating a review of the cases of Medellin and other Mexicans in US prisons awaiting execution.

The US Supreme Court said in March Mr Bush's action had exceeded his authority.

The government of Mexico sent the US State Department a diplomatic note of protest, expressing "its concern for the precedent" that the case "may create for the rights of Mexican nationals who may be detained in that country."

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