Most African countries moving towards abolishing death penalty, except Kenya and Nigeria

Sub-Saharan African countries have seen a 67% fall in capital punishment, from 33 in 2021 to just 11 last year, and a 20% drop in death penalty sentences, from 373 to 298 over the same period, Amnesty International (AI) said in its latest report.

South Sudan executed five people - down from nine in 2021 - and Somalia, which in 2021 carried out 21 executions, only had six last year.

Botswana which had executed one person in 2021, didn't conduct any last year.

In the whole African continent, recorded death sentences decreased by 20%, from 373 in 2021 to 298 in 2022.

Death sentences recorded in 16 countries last year, down three from 2021.

According to the report, the 20% drop in recorded death sentences was due to notable reductions in the following countries in 2022 compared to 2021:

Botswana (6 to 1);
Cameroon (4 to 0);
Democratic Republic of the Congo (81 to 76);
Malawi (11 to 0);
Mali (48 to 8);
Somalia (27 to 10);
Sierra Leone (23 to 0);
South Sudan (10 to 4);
Sudan (7 to 1)

Despite these decreases, two countries had significant increases in recorded death sentences in 2022 compared to 2021: Kenya from 14 to 79 and Nigeria 56 to 77.

A significant number of death sentences were also commuted to life, with some people even being pardoned across Africa.

"At least 240 commutations and at least 67 pardons were granted, and at least 27 exonerations occurred across several countries in the region," Amnesty International said.

The report highlighted that commutations were in the following countries: Kenya (12); Malawi (25); Nigeria (48); Sierra Leone (117); and Zambia (30).

In Nigeria, 56 people were pardoned by the authorities, while 20 in Kenya and five in Zimbabwe were cleared by the courts.

Nigeria, on the other hand, had the largest number of people facing with the death sentence last year.

"At the end of the year (2022), at least 6 168 people were under sentence of death in sub-Saharan Africa, with those in Nigeria constituting 51% (3 167) of the recorded number," the report said.

Moving away from the death penalty

In March this year, Zimbabwe began nationwide consultations on whether to abolish capital punishment for people convicted of premeditated murder.

Last week, all prisoners on death row, and who had spent a decade awaiting execution, had their sentences reduced to life.

Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia have partially or completely eliminated the death penalty.

In Equatorial Guinea, the death penalty remains in the Military Code of Justice for crimes under military laws.

The Central African Republic and Sierra Leone have both abolished the death penalty for all offences, while Zambia has replaced the death penalty with a life sentence.

However, globally there was a 53% increase in executions, with a notable rise in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Source: news24.com, Staff, May 17, 2023

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