Death Penalty News

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Lesedi Molapisi, a Botswana national convicted of drug trafficking, was executed in Bangladesh on Friday, 21 March 2025. The 31-year-old was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail after exhausting all legal avenues to appeal her death sentence. Molapisi was arrested in January 2023 upon arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, where customs officials discovered 3.1 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage. Following a trial under Bangladesh’s Narcotics Control Act, she was sentenced to death in May 2024. Her execution was initially delayed due to political unrest in the country but was carried out last week.

More than 100 people were arrested for attending a gay wedding in Nigeria under the country’s draconian homosexuality laws. Police stormed a hotel in Ekpan town, Delta state, southern Nigeria, at around 2am on Monday and arrested more than 100 “gay suspects”. At least sixty-seven people have been detained. Two of those detained in the arrests, one of the country’s largest targeting homosexuality, got married at the event, Delta State Command spokesman Bright Edafe told a press conference.

The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal abolished the death penalty in April, the most notable decision against capital punishment since the South African Constitutional Court found the penalty unconstitutional in 1995 . The Malawian decision is significant because Malawi’s constitution specifically provides for the death penalty (in Article 16), unlike the unqualified right to life in the South African constitution . The Malawian decision ended years of confusion over the status of the remaining 37 prisoners on death row. Nearly 15 years ago, the Malawi High Court abolished the mandatory death penalty for murder . It had found that an automatic death sentence did not sufficiently individualise sentencing and, therefore, was cruel and degrading punishment. But, the ruling was not clearly retroactive. Many defendants were still appealing their mandatory death sentences or had them commuted to life imprisonment without ever having a sentencing hearing. This “grey area” led to the latest c...

SABORONE, Botswana – Botswana on Friday carried out the execution of a man who murdered his girlfriend and young son in 2011. Phemelo Botogeleng, 34, was executed by hanging, the Botswana Prison Service said in a statement. The last executions were carried out in February this year when 33-year-old Wedu Mosalagae and 29-year-old Kutlo Setima faced the gallows at Gaborone Central Prison.  They had both been sentenced to death in 2019 for murder. “The Botswana Prison Service wishes to inform the public that the execution of the death penalty passed on Mr Phemelo Botogeleng of Matshotha Ward in Lesenepole was carried out today, Friday 11th June 2021 at Gaborone Central Prison,” a statement by Senior Superintendent Oagile Kojane said. Botogeleng was convicted of the 2011 double murder of his girlfriend Annah Simon and his son Atang Simon at the Francistown High Court in July last year. The Court of Appeal threw out his appeal against the sentence in February this year. Botswana is one ...

Responding to the government of Botswana’s announcement that two people were executed on 8 February at Gaborone Central Prison after being sentenced to death in 2019 and losing their appeals in 2020, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa said: “The continued use of the death penalty in Botswana and the sharp rise in executions under President Mokgweetsi Masisi is a chilling reminder of the contempt with which Botswana authorities view the right to life. “Botswana, under President Masisi, is continuing to go against the regional trend by increasing its executions of people on a continent where many countries have either abolished the death penalty or are no longer executing people. “The death penalty is cruel and inhuman, and there is no credible evidence that it has a greater deterrent effect on crime than imprisonment. Instead of resorting to executions, the authorities should focus their efforts on strengthening the justice system, giving peo...

Press Statement: The Botswana Prison Service wishes to inform the public that the execution of the death penalty passed on Wedu Mosalagae, 33 years, of Letlhakane village and Kutlo Setima, 29 years, of Ghanzi, was carried out this morning at Gaborone Central Prison.  TWO MURDERERS EXECUTED Press Statement:  The Botswana Prison Service wishes to inform the public that the execution of the death penalty passed on Wedu Mosalagae, 33 years, of Letlhakane village and Kutlo Setima, 29 years, of Ghanzi, was carried out this morning, (Monday, February 8, 2021) at Gaborone Central Prison.  Mosalagae was committed to death by Francistown High Court on August 8, 2019, for the murder of Barobi Rampape on November 24, 2012 at Nkoshe Ward at Letlhakane. Setima was committed to death by the High Court of Botswana at Lobatse on May 24, 2019 for the murder of Tsone Kosi of Kgaphamadi ward, Ghanzi.   They both lost their appeals to the High Court of Appeal on August 5, 2020. Assi...

As the world battles the deadly COVID-19 virus, countries across sub-Saharan Africa have taken a number of measures aimed at stopping the spread of the virus in their territories. However, while efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic are a stark reminder that the right to life is important and must be protected, a new report by Amnesty International on the global use of the death penalty in 2019 shows that some governments in sub-Saharan Africa do not consistently seek to protect the right to life. In fact, in some instances they actively strive to violate it by sentencing people to death or executing them. Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan In 2019, four countries in the region – Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – carried out executions in their territories despite a 5% reduction in known executions in the world. Amnesty International confirmed one execution in Botswana, one in Sudan, 11 in South Sudan and 12 in Somalia. These four countries are increasi...

Moabi Seabelo Mabiletsa, 33, and his co-accused Matshidiso Tshid Boikanyo, 39, were hanged to death in the capital Gaborone GABORONE – Botswana, one of the few democracies to still enforce the death penalty, on Saturday executed two men convicted of murder. The latest executions bring to four the number of hangings since President Mokgweetsi Masisi was elected last October. Moabi Seabelo Mabiletsa, 33, and his co-accused Matshidiso Tshid Boikanyo, 39, were hanged to death in the capital Gaborone, the prison services said in a statement. The two were handed the death sentence for the murder of a taxi driver six years ago. This follows a death sentence which was imposed on them by the Gaborone High Court on the 01 December for the offence of murder. Botswana, which previously executed a man last month and another one in December, is the only country in southern Africa still regularly hanging convicts. The death penalty has been legal in Botswana since its i...

Gaborone (Botswana), Feb 22 (AFP) Botswana has hanged a 29-year old man for murdering his employer, prison services announced, despite mounting calls by rights groups to abolish the death penalty. Mmika Michael Mpe is the second convict to be executed since President Mokgweetsi Masisi took office in October. He was sentenced to death in 2018 for the 2014 murder of his employer and his appeal was dismissed last year. The Botswana Prison Service confirmed the execution in a statement on Friday. It follows the December hanging of 44-year old bricklayer Mooketsi Kgosibodiba, who was also handed capital punishment for murdering his employer. Amnesty International called on Masisi to abolish the practice after two other people were hanged in 2018. It described Botswana as the only southern African country that "consistently executes people" and said the sentence was often carried out without prior notice. The death penalty has been enforced in Botswan...

The execution of Mooketsi Kgosibodiba by the Botswana Government this week in Gaborone, has opened old wounds and deepened public discourse on the death penalty in the country. On one hand, some observers and quite a considerable number of Batswana still believe in death penalty and take every opportunity to support the State to withhold it. Such insists that the only deserving justice for murderers is to be executed as evidence by their notion and justification: “an eye for an eye.” However, speaking to Weekend Post this week, a renowned attorney who has done murder cases for years expressed his dissatisfaction against the latest development of killing by the State - despite calls to abolish the practice. He asserted to this publication that “this government is cruel… How does the State even find it fit and just normal to kill during the month of Jesus Christ? I find it interesting.” Although regarded as a secular State, Botswana is predominantly Christian. The prominent la...

CNN — It was Pride Month no less. On June 11, high court judges in Gaborone struck down colonial-era sodomy laws from the rule books. The judgment was comprehensive, and LGBTQ activists in Botswana were overjoyed. It was a significant win in a protracted fight for equality. For a moment, progress seemed inevitable, but I've found that victories like this one are often followed by crushing disappointments. And so, a few weeks ago the attorney general in Botswana, Abraham Keetshabe, announced he would appeal the LGBTQ ruling. Keetshabe told me that his main argument was legal -- but it was also moral. "Let me make it very clear, the predominant majority of the people in this country believe that the laws were not only constitutional, but appropriate, representing the values, the norms and the culture of this country," he said. "Batswana are in shock." Anna Mmolai-Chalmers, the Motswana founder of prominent LGBTQ rights group LEGABIBO, wa...

The high court in Botswana rejected laws that could land couples in jail for up to seven years for being in a same-sex relationship. BBC News reports that the court said it was unconstitutional to punish people for their sexual preference. Judge Elburu added that laws banning gay sex are “discriminatory” and that, “Sexual orientation is not a fashion statement. It is an important attribute of one’s personality.” The ruling marks a significant step for gay rights in Africa as same-sex relations can be punishable by death in northern Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, and Mauritania.  RELATED | Anti-gay laws widespread in Africa despite gains Tanzanian laws also punish homosexuality with a life sentence. Homosexuality in Botswana was outlawed under the country’s penal code in 1965.  Angola, Mozambique, and Seychelles are some of the countries that have changed their laws on same-sex partnerships, allowing for freedom of rights. Source: thehollywoodunlocke...