Sub-Saharan Africa is beacon against death penalty

When Amnesty International started its global campaign against the death penalty in 1977, the use of this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment was rife in sub-Saharan Africa.

Not one country in the region had abolished the punishment for all crimes.

40 years on, the region has witnessed remarkable progress against the death penalty.

Starting with Cape Verde, in 1981, some 20 countries have abolished the punishment for all crimes.

Fifteen more can be considered abolitionist in practice because they have not executed anyone over the past 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.

DECLINE

This has established sub-Saharan Africa as the beacon of hope in the struggle for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

Globally, the use of the death penalty went down last year, according to a new AI report.

AI recorded 993 executions in 23 countries in 2017, a reduction of 4 % from 2016 (1,032) and down by 39 % from 2015 (1,634).

The reduction was due to decreases in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which had the highest numbers in 2016.

There were 2,591 death sentences in 53 countries last year, a significant decrease from the record-high 3,117 in 2016.

DEATH SENTENCES

The report also confirms the region as having made the most significant progress towards abolition in 2017.

Generally, death sentences decreased from 1,086 in 17 countries in 2016 to 878 in 15 countries in 2017.

There was a drop in the number of executing countries from 5 in 2016 to 2 in 2017 with Somalia and South Sudan the only ones known to have carried them out.

The Gambia has, within months, under new President Adama Barrow changed its attitude towards the death penalty.

Notorious for its staunch support for the death penalty under former President Yahya Jammeh, it has suddenly become a shining regional example of progress towards abolition.

TREATY

In a series of moves, The Gambia has shown that it is committed to the abolition of the death penalty: President Barrow has pardoned people under sentence of death; on September 2017, the country signed the international treaty that commits state parties not to carry out executions and to take all necessary steps to abolish the death penalty; and, just a few weeks ago, the president announced an official moratorium on executions.

As 2017 came to a close, Guinea became the 20th sub-Saharan African country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes - a remarkable feat for a country which, only 2 years ago, was considered retentionist.

Through reforms that began in 2016, Guinea expunged the death penalty from its laws.

First, it removed the use of death sentences as a punishment in its criminal code.

Secondly, last year, it deleted the death penalty provisions from its military justice law, then the remaining legislation with that provision.

SUPREME COURT

In Chad, a new law, which abolished the death penalty except for terrorism, came into force in 2017.

And in Burkina Faso, a provision outlawing the death penalty completely was included in proposals to revise the Constitution.

In addition, Kenya’s Supreme Court declared the mandatory use of the death penalty for murder illegal.

The effect of this is that judges in murder cases now have discretion not to impose the death sentence.

The apex court ordered cases of people who were given mandatory death sentences, following convictions for murder, to be reconsidered with a view to determining new sentences.

INHUMANE

The sentences of these condemned convicts are likely to be replaced with less severe punishments.

The decision has put Kenya in the same league as other countries in the region, Uganda and Malawi.

Nevertheless, it is not over yet. The abolitionist movement in sub-Saharan Africa, for now, cannot declare total victory against the death penalty.

This inhuman punishment, though dying slowly, is still alive and kicking.

For instance, while only Somalia and South Sudan are known to have carried out executions in 2017, Botswana and Sudan have already resumed executions this year.

Also, the very high number of people under death sentence in Nigeria is extremely worrying.

DEATH ROW

By the end of last year, the courts in Nigeria had sentenced a staggering 621 people to death and the country had some 2,285 people on death row - both being the highest figures in the sub-Saharan Africa region.

However, despite these concerns, victory against the death penalty in the region remains an attainable goal.

Source: nation.co.ke, April 12, 2018. Mr Popoola is Amnesty International’s advocate/adviser on the death penalty.

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Texas | A Dangerous Man. At 18, Billy Joe Wardlow took a man’s life. Nearly 30 years later, the state still wants his.

Like any place humans gather, death row has a culture. Billy Wardlow says it's different in many ways from general population. One is in how new inmates are treated. "In [general population], the guys around you would try to find some way to exploit you," Wardlow said. "Death row, with a few exceptions, will often extend a hand of friendship to the 'new boot' so they can get on their feet ... Most of us get together and let each other know what we can send to the new guy." One of the cherished myths of those who support the death penalty is that it is reserved for the “worst of the worst,” those beyond redemption. Wardlow typically sends writing materials, food, clothes, and hygiene products. Recently, after receiving some of these items, a new inmate asked Wardlow what he owed him. "I told him to remember how guys helped him when he saw someone else new," Wardlow said. "Pay it forward, as the saying goes." Sending gift...

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog