'US defied order in death row case'

United Nations' principal judicial organ found that the US had breached its orders when Texas last year executed a Mexican national who had not been informed of his right to contact his consular representatives.

United Nations' principal judicial organ on Tuesday found that the United States had breached its orders when Texas last year executed a Mexican national who had not been informed of his right to contact his consular representatives.

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Ruling in The Hague on a complaint from Mexico, the International Court of Justice found that the US was obliged to review and reconsider the convictions and sentences of other Mexican nationals whose rights under the 1963 Vienna Convention on consular representation may have been violated.

José Ernesto Medellín Rojas was executed after being convicted of rape and murder last August.

The Court found that the US had specifically breached its obligation under an ICJ order of July 16, 2008, calling on it to "take all measures necessary to ensure" that Medellín and four other Mexicans not be executed pending judgment on a suit by the Mexican Government.