Kampala — FIVE inmates who have been waiting to be hanged for more than 20 years, were on Friday released by the Luzira Prison authorities. They were the first condemned inmates to be released without a presidential pardon.

The five inmates were beneficiaries of a Supreme Court ruling in January which stated that condemned inmates should either be executed within three years or their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Life imprisonment in Uganda translates to serving 20 years in prison.

Sources at Luzira Prison said the release of the inmates on Friday excited the condemned inmates who now have hopes of surviving the gallows.

The prison's spokesman, Frank Baine, said while this had raised a lot of excitement among the inmates, hanging of condemned inmates is still legal and can be effected anytime.

"If the Government adheres to the ruling of the Supreme Court, executions will be more frequent compared to the past," Baine said.

Among the inmates who were released on Friday was Hajji Mohammed Birikkadde Kasoozi, who was sentenced to death in 1982 for kidnap.

The others were Isaiah Bikumu, Ben Ogwang Simba and Fred Tindigwihuura who was convicted in Hoima in 1987.

Yowana Serunkuma, who was convicted for robbery, also qualified to be released but was kept in prison because he once attempted to escape.