Death Penalty News

Sierra Leone's president said he would sign the abolition of capital punishment, fulfilling a personal campaign pledge. Some 99 people in the country are currently sitting on death row. Lawmakers in Sierra Leone voted on Friday to abolish the death penalty, becoming the latest African country to ban the practice. Sierra Leone's 1991 constitution had allowed the use of the death penalty for aggravated robbery, murder, treason and mutiny. After Friday's vote, capital punishment will now be replaced with life imprisonment or a minimum 30-year jail term. The move to end the death penalty will affect some 99 people who were sitting on death row as of June 2021. 'An affront to civilized society' Although no execution has been carried out in Sierra Leone since 1998, with death sentences often commuted, the country had frequently come under fire from rights groups for not completely abolishing the practice. "Today, I have fulfilled a governance pledge to permanently ab...

Freetown (AFP) -- Sierra Leone's government will move to abolish the death penalty in the West African state, deputy justice minister Umaru Napoleon Koroma said on Wednesday. No execution has taken place in the country since 1998, and death penalties are often commuted. Sierra Leone, which is still recovering after decades of civil war, has frequently come under fire from rights groups for keeping capital punishment on the books. "Once the legislation goes to parliament and gets approved, that ends the story of the death penalty," Koroma told AFP. He added that the cabinet of President Julius Maada Bio had decided to push to abolish capital punishment in order to "uphold the fundamental human rights of Sierra Leoneans". The date of the cabinet's decision is unclear. But the government announced the move on Wednesday during a review of Sierra Leone's human rights record at the United Nations, Koroma said. The European Union's ambassador to Sierra Leon...

The Chadian National Assembly voted unanimously on Tuesday to abolish the death penalty in this Sahelian country where the death penalty was still authorized for terrorist acts, the justice minister told AFP. “The deputies voted unanimously to abolish the death penalty for acts of terrorism,” said Minister Djimet Arabi, the originator of the bill submitted to the Assembly several months ago. To enter into force, the measure must still be promulgated by President Idriss Déby Itno.  In 2016, Chad adopted a reform of the Penal Code, repealing the death penalty, except in cases of terrorism. The measure voted Tuesday aims to “harmonize our anti-terrorism legislation with those of all G5 Sahel countries that do not provide for the death penalty for acts of terrorism,” said the Minister of Justice. He was referring to the G5 Sahel, a regional organization grouping Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. A huge country stretching from central Africa to t...

The death penalty is on the books, under sharia, in Mauritania, Sudan and northern Nigeria, although there have been no known executions in recent times. JOHANNESBURG – More than half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa have anti-homosexuality laws, although others have moved towards legal tolerance, watchdogs say. Twenty-eight out of 49 countries have laws penalising same-sex relationships, according to Neela Ghoshal, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) specialist in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. The death penalty is on the books, under sharia, in Mauritania, Sudan and northern Nigeria, although there have been no known executions in recent times. In southern Somalia, gay men are believed to have been put to death in the territory ruled by the Al Shabaab jihadist group. However, Angola, Mozambique and Seychelles have scrapped anti-gay laws in recent years. Last month, Kenya's high court caused widespread dismay when it refused to scrap laws c...

BRUSSELS: Business tycoon Sir Richard Branson has commended Malaysia for its plan to abolish the death penalty. The Virgin Group founder said the government's decision was one of the positive developments seen around the world when it came to the death penalty. "I think I speak for us all in welcoming the Malaysian government's plan to abolish the death penalty and Iran's removal of the death sentence for a number of drug-related crimes," he said in a video message played at the 7th World Death Penalty Congress in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday (Feb 26). He said the death penalty was often used as a political bargaining chip by politicians, especially during election season when leaders seek to boost their crime-fighting credentials. Branson said he considered the death penalty a barbaric and inhumane practice that had no place in modern society. He said while his opposition to the death penalty was at its heart a moral opposition, he could se...

Saudi Arabia had the third highest execution rate in the world in 2017, after China and Iran, according to Amnesty International. Saudi Arabia has executed 73 people this year, 150 in 2017. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed seven death row inmates who had been convicted of murder and drug trafficking, state media reported.  Two Saudi citizens and three Chad nationals were executed after being sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a Pakistani security guard, with the alleged intent of robbing the warehouse he was protecting, according to the state-run SPA agency.  Another Saudi Arabian was executed for murder after setting a man on fire, SPA reported.  A Lebanese national was executed for attempting to smuggle captagon into the kingdom, SPA said. Captagon, a drug popular among fighters in war zones, usually blends amphetamines, caffeine and other substances in pill form. Tuesday's executions bring to 73 the total number of peopl...

Nigeria imposed the highest number of death sentences in the sub-Saharan Africa region in 2017 with 621 people put to death, Amnesty International has said. The country bucked the trend seen elsewhere in the region, as Sub-Saharan Africa made great strides in the global fight to abolish the death penalty with a significant decrease in death sentences being imposed. Guinea became the 20th state in sub-Saharan Africa to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, while Kenya abolished the mandatory death penalty for murder. Burkina Faso and Chad also took steps to repeal this punishment with new or proposed laws. “The progress in sub-Saharan Africa reinforced its position as a beacon of hope for abolition. The leadership of countries in this region gives fresh hope that the abolition of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is within reach. Unfortunately, some states in Nigeria continue to expand the scope of death sentences,” said Amnesty Internationa...

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 do...

Amnesty International says at least 600 people were put to death and a total of 2,285 people currently on death row in Nigeria. The international rights group revealed this in its 2017 global review of the death penalty published on Thursday. It said the figures showed that Nigeria imposed the highest number of death sentences in the sub-Saharan Africa region in the previous year. Amnesty International, however, commended other countries in the region who made "great strides" in the global fight to abolish the death penalty, with a significant decrease in death sentences being imposed. According to the report, Guinea became the 20th state in sub-Saharan Africa to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, while Kenya abolished the mandatory death penalty for murder. Burkina Faso and Chad also took steps to repeal this punishment with new or proposed laws. "The progress in sub-Saharan Africa reinforced its position as a beacon of hope for abolition. ...

The parliament of Chad has adopted a reform of its penal code which raises the legal marriage age from 16 to 18 and abrogates the death penalty. 111 MPs voted for the the new penal code while 1 MP voted against it and 4 abstained. The new code that repeals the 1967 Code abrogates the death penalty except in cases of terrorism as the country faces attacks by Boko Haram around its borders. "28 % of women between the ages of 15 and 49 were married before the age of 15, and 69 % of women between the ages of 20 and 49 were married before the age of 18," said the Chadian Minister of Women, Ngarmbatina Carmel Sou IV in August. "This penal code is modern, it takes account of our customs and also our international commitments," Minister of Justice Hamid Dahalob said. In 2015, Chadian President Idriss Deby promulgated a law that punishes any person party to the marriage of a minor by 5 to 10 years prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 to 5 million FCFA ...

Boko Haram militants A series of death sentences Boko Haram insurgents for their roles in the deadly attacks that have claimed thousands of civilians have been hailed in Cameroon as a breakthrough. However, experts warn this could rebound badly in the wake of suggestions the Nigerian Islamic militant sect could carry out reprisal attacks. Recently, Cameroon sentenced to death more than 80 Boko Haram insurgents for carrying out attacks in the country's Far North Region. A military court in this region worst hit by the insurgency by the sect imposed capital punishment on the 89 terrorists after finding them guilty of crimes against humanity. The judgment handed down on March 18 marked the most extreme implementation of a controversial anti-terrorism law President Paul Biya promulgated in December 2014 in reaction to the merciless attacks the Boko Haram carried out in the central African country. The law specifies terrorist crimes as "actions likely to ca...