Death Penalty News

LONDON, May 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - African countries have some of the most prohibitive laws against homosexuality in the world - same-sex relationships are a crime in many of them and can lead to imprisonment or the death penalty. On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, here are a few facts about LGBT rights on the African continent: * Same sex acts are illegal in 32 countries across the continent. * Laws criminalising same-sex relationships only apply to women in only 24 of these. In countries such as Ghana , Kenya or Sierra Leone , it is illegal for men to engage in consensual sex with someone of the same sex but not for women. * In Mauritania and Sudan , same-sex relationships can lead to the death penalty. * In Nigeria , 54 people went on trial last week on charges connected to allegations that they were celebrating a gay wedding, which are outlawed in the country. A bill was signed in 2014 that criminalised same-sex ...

Burkina Faso must seize the opportunity to abolish the death penalty, Amnesty International said on the eve of parliamentary sessions which will culminate in an historic vote. Tomorrow the national transitional parliament will start a series of discussions with organisations and interested parties regarding the abolition of the death penalty before putting a bill to the vote on 6 September. The government has already approved the text of the bill which has been sent back to the transitional parliament. "This is a critical moment for Burkina Faso to put itself on the right side of history by acknowledging the inviolable nature of the right to life"-- Alioune Tine, Amnesty International West Africa director. "The eyes of the world will be on the country's parliamentarians to see whether they will join the steady global movement away from the use of the death penalty and abolish this cruel punishment once and for all." The last known execution wa...