"Up to a few months ago there were eight or nine, but a number of them have been removed because of the passage of time and the fact that the five-year period has expired and their process of appeals has not yet been exhausted," Golding said.

The prime minister was speaking in Parliament on Tuesday as he closed the debate on the Charter of Rights.

Parliament last year voted 34-15 for the retention of the death penalty, which the country has not carried out since 1988.

Golding said his Government is committed to carrying out the punishment.

"Once all the processes are completed, the law must take its course. Whether it is one or two or three ... our position is that the law must take its course," Golding said.

The Opposition People's National Party had asked Government to remove the five-year stricture laid down by the Privy Council in its Pratt and Morgan ruling to make it easier for condemned men to be put on the gallows.

Privy council in opposition

The Privy Council has ruled that it would constitute cruel and inhumane treatment for prisoners to await execution for more than five years. The ruling states that if all appeals from the convict are not heard within five years of sentencing the punishment must be commuted to life in prison.

Currently, only persons con-victed of capital murder can get the death penalty. Out of 187 cases listed for murder in the Michaelmas term of the Home Circuit Court, only in two of these cases can the accused attract the death penalty.

"Even if you remove Pratt and Morgan, there are still a large number of murderers, convicted as such, that are not going to fall in the capital murder category and, therefore, the question of the death penalty would not apply," Golding said.

The prime minister was among the 34 members of Parliament who voted for the retention of the death penalty in the conscience vote last year.