Death Penalty News

2012 Gay Pride in Uganda: Risking one's life Homophobia, including verbal harassment, physical attacks and even murder, has risen to “dangerous” levels across sub-Saharan Africa, warned a report from human rights campaigner group Amnesty International. In a document entitled, “Making Love a Crime: Criminalization of same-sex conduct in sub-Saharan Africa,” Amnesty detailed how laws in many African countries have increased the penalties for same-sex activity, up to and including the introduction of the death penalty. Homosexuality is currently considered a criminal offense in 38 African nations. Over the past five years, the governments of South Sudan and Burundi have enacted new laws criminalizing homosexual conduct, while Uganda, Liberia and Nigeria have proposed harsher punishments against gays and lesbians. “These attacks -- sometimes deadly -- must be stopped,” said Widney Brown, Amnesty International’s senior director of Law and Policy in a statement. “No one sh...

The former first lady of Liberia has reportedly tabled a bill which could make homosexuality in the country punishable by death in her new capacity as a senator. AFP reports that Jewel Howard Taylor, erstwhile wife of former president Charles Taylor, wants gay sex to attract a penalty ranging from 10 years imprisonment to execution. The proposed amendment to the country’s marriage laws reads: “No two persons of the same sex shall have sexual relations. A violation of this prohibition will be considered a first degree felony.” George Tengbeh told AFP the bill aims “to prevent the parliament from talking about such an issue that is against our tradition and culture”. He added that gay rights were “not suitable for” Liberia because it “does not allow such things to happen”. Gay acts are already illegal in the sub-Saharan country and attract a penalty of up to three years in prison, AFP reported. Click here to read the full article Source: PinkNews , Feb. 17, 2012

Mr. Hans Williams and Ms. Mardea Payku, convicted of murdering 13-year old girl Angel Togbah, will be hung on Friday, 26 March between 6am to 6pm, the judge has ordered. Judge Dixon Blamo, delivering his verdict in an emotion packed trial that begun 2007, ordered that: "...Wherefore and in view of the foregoing facts and attending circumstances and the Laws controlling, it is the considered Final Verdict/Judgment of this Honorable Court that the Defendants, Hans C. Williams, Sr. and Mardia P. Williams, are hereby adjudged GUILTY of the Crime of Murder with immediate effect, in keeping with Section 14.1 of the New Penal Code of Liberia. The said Defendants are hereby SENTENCED to death by on Friday, March 26,2010 at Center Street South Beach from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. until death. The Clerk of Court is hereby ordered to address a communication to the President of Liberia to give effect to this Final Verdict/Judgment. The Clerk of Court is also ordered to issue a commitment upon convict...

The European Union expresses its deepest concern following the promulgation in Liberia of a law reintroducing the death penalty for certain crimes. It notes that Liberia abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2005. In signing the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in September 2005, Liberia committed itself to taking all the necessary measures with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Such a decision to reintroduce the death penalty is an extremely disturbing signal which runs counter to the trend observed for many years in Africa and in the world as a whole. The European Union reaffirms its opposition to the use of the death penalty under all circumstances. It considers that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the development of human rights. It regards the death penalty as a cruel and inhuman punishment and a violation of the right to life. It notes that there is no evidence tha...