The top United Nations human rights official has appealed to a state governor in the United States to commute the death sentence of a Mexican national scheduled to be executed for murder next week, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported today.

The plea from Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is also supported by two UN rights experts who have urged the US Government to stop the execution for the same reason: the convicted murderer was not granted access to a Mexican consular official at the time of his arrest.

Ms. Pillay wrote directly to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to order a life sentence for Humberto Leal Garcia, who was condemned to death for the 1994 murder of a 16-year-old girl, according to Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for OHCHR.