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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Ghana has no hangman to execute death row convicts

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Director of Administration at the Prison Service, Stephen Coffie, has revealed that Ghana currently has no hangman to execute death sentences. 

According to him, the last professionally trained hangman Ghana had has long left the system and is yet to be replaced.

The last time the death sentence was used on convicts was in 1993, during former president Jerry John Rawlings' era.

Twelve people in total were executed for crimes ranging from armed robbery and murder.

However, it has now emerged that there is no more qualified hangman in Ghana to execute death sentences even if the need be. "The death sentence yes, we know is still in our constitution. The hangman's system is still blazing in Nsawam but nobody can operate it today.

The last person, the professional who used to handle that facility has long left the system and nobody has oiled or serviced that equipment," the Director of Administration at the Prison Service, Stephen Coffie, is quoted as saying by Myjoyonline.com.


The death sentence in Ghana's laws was one of the major issues under discussion after Amnesty International released its report on the death penalty situation across the world, and the group is calling for a constitutional review of the country's laws.

But the latest comment from the Director of Administration at the Prison Service will come as a huge relief to the human rights group, as they still battle to repeal the death sentence from Ghana's laws.

Source: GhanaWeb, July 15, 2017

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