NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuter) A human rights group charged on Saturday
that New York state was violating international law by sentencing lowlevel
drug dealers to long, mandatory jail terms similar to those handed out to
murderers or rapists.

A report by Human Rights Watch said, ``(Mandatory) long sentences may be
appropriate for major drug kingpins. They are cruel punishment for minor,
nonviolent drug offenders. It is unconscionable to punish such people with
the same sentences given to murderers and rapists.''

The report said that a person convicted of selling two ounces (57 gms) of
cocaine received a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in New York state
the same penalty meted out to a murderer.

Jamie Fellner, author of the report entitled ``Cruel and Unusual:
Disproportionate Sentences for New York Drug offenders,'' said the sentences
violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other conventions or
treaties on inhumane punishment.

The report said 10,000 people a year, 95 percent of them black or
Hispanic, go to prison in New York state each year on drug charges the
vast majority of them lowlevel street dealers.

The report urged the state to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for
those who do not have major roles in durg distribution.