Amnesty International is urging its followers to put pressure on the US state of Idaho to prevent its first execution in 17 years. Paul Rhoades, 54, is due to die from a lethal injection on Friday after a federal judge refused to issue a stay of execution this week.
Rhoades, who has been on death row for nearly a quarter of a century, was sentenced to death after being arrested in 1987 and charged with the murders of a teacher and two shop workers. He will be only the second man to be excuted in the state in more than 50 years.
Some of Rhoades' fellow inmates submitted letters trying to spare his life, arguing that he had changed their lives by urging them to renounce violence in prison.
His clemency petition pleaded: "Over the past 24 years, I learned that repentance is the only positive way to express my guilt and remorse...I try to make amends by helping others move from anger toward reconciliation." However, Idaho refused to hold a hearing.
Rob Freer of Amnesty International said: "The execution of Paul Rhoades looms at a time when many in the USA are questioning the death penalty. This is a punishment that offers no constructive solutions to violent crime."
This latest campaign to prevent an execution comes just weeks after the death in September of Troy Davis in Georgia, which campaigners insisted was a 'miscarriage of justice'. as with that case, Amnesty's supporters are being urged to petition Idaho governor, CL Otter, urging him to halt the planned execution.
Fourteen people are currently on death row in Idaho, and there have been 42 executions in the USA this year.