Death Penalty News

Muhsin Hendricks, who claimed to be "the first openly gay imam," was shot dead Saturday near Port Elizabeth in South Africa. He was reportedly the victim of a targeted attack. He was known as "the first openly gay imam." Muhsin Hendricks, who rose to prominence when he came out as gay in 1996 while leading the Al Ghurbaah mosque in Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa, was shot dead on Saturday near Port Elizabeth, provincial police said. "At around 10am, the deceased (58 years old), Imam Moegsien Hendricks (his first name in the civil registry) and a driver were on board (a car)," a police statement said. "Two unknown suspects with covered faces (...) began firing several shots at the vehicle."

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee who became a global star competing at his sport’s highest level while running on carbon-fiber blades, was released from prison on Friday after serving nearly nine years for killing his girlfriend, the model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, 37, quietly left the Atteridgeville Correctional Center in Pretoria and was processed at a parole office before being released to his family, Department of Corrections spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told The Associated Press. Nxumalo, who referred to Pistorius’ release as an “operation” designed to avoid a media scramble, declined to give further details.

Oscar Pistorius, the South African-born Paralympic sprinter convicted in his girlfriend’s murder, has been granted parole after nearly a decade behind bars. The 37-year-old, who fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, meets the requirements for parole in South Africa and will be released from prison on Jan. 5, 2024, according to the Department of Correctional Services.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius could be granted parole on Friday after spending nearly 10 years in prison for murder. It’s the latest turn in the story of the double-amputee Olympic runner who was one of the world’s most admired athletes before he killed his girlfriend by shooting her multiple times through a toilet door at his home.

South Africa must do the "right thing" and abide by international law if Russian President Vladimir Putin personally attends the BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month. Source : Karim Khan, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor, in an interview with CNN Quote : "South Africa has felt a crime against humanity for decades, the crime of apartheid, I don't think they need lessons from me. They are voluntarily a state party to the ICC, they know what the law is, and I think they would do the right thing. And we will assess what actually happens at the BRICS summit and respond accordingly."

On Sunday, a man suspected of committing robberies in Kosovo informal settlement, Cape Town, was beaten and set alight by members of the community. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A man suspected of committing robberies and other crimes around Kosovo informal settlement in Samora Machel, Cape Town, died after being beaten and set alight by community members on Sunday. Police spokesperson Joseph Swaartbooi confirmed that Samora Machel police responded to a call at 8:30am on Sunday. “Upon arrival in White Heart Lane, they found the body of an unknown male who sustained fatal injuries. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel. The motive for the attack is still to be confirmed.”

Responding to an announcement by Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema on Friday 23 December 2022, that he had assented to a law banning the death penalty and the offence of criminal defamation of the president, Tigere Chagutah Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa said: “Amnesty International welcomes the announcement by President Hichilema that the death penalty has been abolished in Zambia. This is a good and progressive move that shows the country’s commitment to protecting the right to life.

According to a 2020 ILGA report, homosexuality was prohibited in 69 countries, including 11 where it is punishable by death. Paris — Singapore announced on Sunday that it will repeal a law criminalising gay sex but in many other parts of the world homosexuality is illegal and sometimes subject to the death penalty. According to a report published in 2020 by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), homosexuality was prohibited in 69 countries, including 11 where it is punishable by death. Here is an overview. A crime in Africa Around 30 African countries ban homosexuality, with Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan having the death penalty for same-sex relations. South Africa is the sole nation on the African continent to allow gay marriage, which it legalised in 2006. Gay sex is decriminalised in only a handful of countries: Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Seychelles. Middle East: repressed Several countries in the conservative region still have the ...

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace laureate who described himself as “passionately opposed to the death penalty,” died in Cape Town, South Africa on December 26, 2021. He was 90 years old. Tutu, who as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town helped turn the conscience of the world against the white supremacist policies of apartheid that oppressed his homeland, later was tasked by President Nelson Mandela with chairing the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. While unrelenting in his opposition to apartheid, he remained a consistent voice of non-violence. “The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. During his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, Tutu condemned violence both by government security forces and by those fighting for the liberation of the na...

In Ghana, home to a diverse array of religions, leaders of major churches have united in denouncing homosexuality as a “perversion” and endorsing legislation that would, if enacted, impose some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ policies in Africa. In Nigeria, the umbrella body for Christian churches depicts same-sex relationships as an evil meriting the lengthy prison sentences prescribed under existing law. And in several African countries, bishops aligned with the worldwide United Methodist Church are preparing to join an in-the-works breakaway denomination so they can continue their practice of refusing to recognize same-sex marriage or ordain LGBTQ clergy. In the United States, Western Europe and various other regions, some prominent Protestant churches have advocated for LGBTQ inclusion. With only a few exceptions, this hasn’t happened in Africa, where Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran leaders are among those opposing such inclusion. “The mainstream churches — all of them — ...

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...

Johannesburg - Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola may have all but crushed growing calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty this week after he described the campaign as flawed. Lamola said he would not be tempted by populist calls for the return of the death penalty. ”The reinstatement of the death penalty will not deal with femicide and other forms of violence against women and children,” he said. The campaign to reinstate the death penalty follows the brutal murders of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana, female karate and boxing champion Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels, Northwood Primary School, Mitchell’s Plain pupil Janika Mallo, Ayakha Jiyani and her siblings Siphesihle, Khwezi and Kuhlekonke Mpungose. But Lamola maintained that the Constitution states that everyone has the right to life following the Constitutional Court’s landmark judgment in the 1995 case of convicted killers Themba Makwanyane and Mvuso Mchunu. Ma...

Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, says an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been set up to look at how the criminal justice system can be more ‘victim-centric’. Speaking at an event on Tuesday (3 September), Nkoana-Mashabane said that the IMC would, as part of their review of the Sexual Offences Act, look at increasing the foot print of sexual offences courts across the country, as well as amending the Criminal Procedure Act to ensure that persons who allege that they are sexually violated are not re-violated. “This committee will provide a briefing on what is being done to ensure that an efficient victim centred response is implemented. “We collectively are calling for all service delivery points within the value chain of the criminal justice system to exhibit speed, sensitivity and responsive attitudes to reduce, and ultimately eradicate secondary victimisation,” she said. At the same event, justice and correctional servi...

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...

JOHANNESBURG - Amnesty International says use of the death penalty is on the decline and by the end of last year, 142 countries had abolished it. However, there were still 993 executions recorded in 2017, in 23 countries which practise capital punishment, with China still believed to be the world's biggest executioner. In South Africa, the IFP wants a discussion on the death penalty. India recently passed a bill allowing for the death sentence for anyone convicted of raping a child.  The move comes after nationwide protests over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl. READ : Is Zimbabwe ready to abolish the death penalty? Countries carrying out the penalty last year used methods ranging from decapitation to hanging, and lethal injection. The United States has been divided on the issue of the death penalty for decades. According to the latest poll, today 54-percent are in favour of sending convicted murderers to Death Row, while 39 percent oppos...