Death Penalty News

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...

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...

Human rights groups have re-launched their bid to have the death penalty abolished in Zimbabwe. The country is 1 of 3 southern African nations still upholding the harsh penalty. As Zimbabwe commemorated the World Day Against the Death Penalty last week, Veritas, Amnesty International and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum canvassed for signatures to petition President Robert Mugabe to direct government to take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty. This comes as Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has openly declared that he is against capital punishment, having escaped the guillotine himself during the liberation struggle. Earlier this year, Mnangagwa blocked recruitment of the country's hangman, although at least five people had applied for the post, which fell vacant more than a decade ago. According to official figures as at December 2016, there were 97 inmates on death roll, with Zimbabwe's last execution having been in 2005. The rig...