FEATURED POST

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Zimbabwe | Reprieve for death row prisoners

Published
Emmerson Mnangagwa
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has commuted death sentences to life imprisonment for all prisoners on death row for at least 10 years.

This is contained in Clemency Order Number 1 of 2020 released on March 24.

The clemency order also gives full remission of sentence for all convicted female prisoners, juveniles, and those over 70 for the remaining period of imprisonment that have served at least half of their sentences, save for those convicted of specified offences.

“A commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment is hereby granted to all prisoners who have been on the death row for at least 10 years and above,” Mnangagwa said.

RELATED | Zimbabwe: Government Removes 34 From Death Row

“Prisoners serving an effective period of imprisonment of more than 36 months, who have served a third of their remaining sentence are hereby granted an additional one-quarter remission of the remaining effective period of imprisonment.”

The order excluded from the proposed amnesty prisoners previously released on amnesty, any prisoner serving a sentence imposed by a court martial, any prisoner who has a record of escaping from lawful custody and any prisoner convicted of committing any specified offences, which include murder, treason, rape or any sexual offence, carjacking and robbery.

RELATED | Zimbabwe moving towards abolishing death penalty

Also excluded are prisoners convicted of stock theft, public violence, any conspiracy, incitement or attempt to commit any of the offences like murder, treason, rape, carjacking, robbery, stock theft, or public violence, and being an accessory to any of these offences.

"Segregating others"


MDC legislator Dorcas Sibanda, who recently moved a motion in the National Assembly to abolish the death penalty, said while the clemency order was welcome, Zimbabwe should completely do away with the death penalty.

“The commutation of the death sentence for only those that have served 10 years is kind of segregating others in my view,” Sibanda said.

“I think Zimbabwe should be progressive and completely do away with the death penalty so that those prisoners with crimes that constitute the death penalty all get life imprisonment terms.”

Mnangagwa’s clemency order also gives full remission of the remaining period of imprisonment to all bedridden prisoners for a prolonged time without recovery and all prisoners serving sentences at the open prison regardless of the crime.

Source: thestandard.co.zw, Veneranda Langa, March 29, 2020


⚑ | 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
Location: Zimbabwe
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
Read more

Japan | Death-row inmates' lawsuit targeting same-day notifications of executions dismissed

Published
Image
The Osaka District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by death row inmates that claimed same-day notifications of executions violate the Constitution — the first ruling of its kind. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the government in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners. They also sought ¥22 million in compensation and plan to appeal to a higher court.
Read more

Texas | State district judge recommends overturning Melissa Lucio’s death sentence

Published
Image
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. A district judge who previously presided over a woman’s capital murder case recommended last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Melissa Lucio's 2008 conviction after a district attorney’s office admitted that prosecutors withheld evidence from her defense.
Read more

Iran | Probable Child Offender and Child Bride, Husband Executed for Drug Charges

Published
Image
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 15 2024: Marjan Hajizadeh and Esmail Hassaniani, a couple sentenced to death for drug-related charges in a joint case, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison.  Marjan is reported to have been 16 at the time of arrest, which IHRNGO is working to confirm. If verified, she will be the first child offender executed for drug charges since 2014. She was also a child bride forced into marriage.
Read more

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Arizona death penalty case that could redefine historic precedent

Published
Image
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments centering on an Arizona death row prisoner that could set new precedent to determining ineffective assistance of counsel.  A Mohave County Superior Court jury convicted Danny Lee Jones for the 1992 murders of Robert Weaver and his daughter Tisha, as well as the attempted murder of Weaver’s grandmother. A judge sentenced Jones to death for the two murders.
Read more

Bill Moves Forward to Prevent Use of Nitrogen Gas Asphyxiation in Louisiana Executions

Published
Image
There’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430. When Louisiana legislators approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation as an execution method during a second special legislative session in February, the move attracted national attention; not the least because it has only been used in the U.S. once. That’s when Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25th of this year. Now there’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430.
Read more

Iraq postpones vote on bill including death penalty for same-sex acts

Published
Image
BAGHDAD, April 15 (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers postponed voting on Monday on a bill that includes the death penalty or life in prison for same-sex relations - a measure that diplomats from Western countries said could have serious consequences for Iraq's political and economic ties if it goes through. Parliament was in session on Monday, with the bill - an amendment to an anti-prostitution law - second on its agenda.
Read more

Alabama lawmakers reject bill which would allow some death row inmates to be resentenced

Published
Image
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - An Alabama House committee rejected a bill that would have impacted sentences for dozens of death row inmates. The proposal would have required courts to resentence people sentenced to death by a judge who overrode a jury’s recommendation of life in prison. That practice was outlawed in 2017. Representative Chris England passionately argued it should be retroactively applied for more than 30 death row inmates who were sentenced to death over a jury’s recommendation.
Read more