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Africa: Use of Death Penalty Declines in Africa
DW, 16 November 2022
As the World Congress Against the Death Penalty is underway in Berlin, many African countries are witnessing a fall in the number of state executions. Read more »
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Ghana: Ghana Supports Abolishing of Death Penalty - - President Akufo-Addo
GhanaToday, 7 November 2022
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Ghana supports the abolishing of the death penalty for ordinary crimes that exist in the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29)… Read more »
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Lesotho: Court Rules Out Mandatory Death Penalty for HIV+ Rapists
Legalbrief, 2 November 2022
A decision by the constitutional division of Lesotho’s High Court has found controversial provisions in that country’s sexual offences law, unconstitutional. In… Read more »
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Nigeria: Nigeria Harbours 53% of Death Row Inmates in Sub-Saharan Africa
Vanguard, 11 October 2022
International human rights groups working in Nigeria have called for an abolition of the death penalty from Nigeria corpus juris noting Nigeria harbours the largest number of death… Read more »
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Zimbabwe: Veritas Proposes Re-Trial for Prisoners on Death Row in New Abolishment Push
New Zimbabwe, 8 October 2022
Leading legal think-tank Veritas has proposed re-trial of all inmates sentenced to death in a model law, presented as part of its latest push for the abolishment of the death… Read more »
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Kenya: Why Has Kenya Not Abolished the Death Penalty? Habit and Inertia
The Conversation Africa, 20 September 2022
In recent months two African states have announced their intentions to abolish the death penalty - Zambia and the Central African Republic. Read more »
Fewer African Prisoners Killed by Death Penalty
Equatorial Guinea plans to remove the death penalty from its criminal code by the end of 2022 - making it the 24th country on the continent to abolish capital punishment. The legislative change is considered to be an essential reform in one of the world's most authoritarian countries.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso only allows judicial executions to take place following a conviction for war crimes. And the Central African Republic outlawed the death penalty for any crime in June 2022, with Sierra Leone enacting similar legislation via a new penal code in 2021.
Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe, while yet to overturn legislation proscribing the death penalty, have not recently carried out executions.
Though some countries have actively abolished capital punishment, the number of recorded death sentences across the continent reportedly increased by 22% in 2021.
Egypt has been one of the world's most active enforcers of the death penalty over the past two years, with 83 people executed in 2021, reports Martina Schwikowski for Deutsche Welle.
InFocus
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The number of prisoners executed in sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled in 2021, largely a result of death sentences passed on al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, reports Amnes Read more »
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Sierra Leone has become the latest country to outlaw the death penalty, after its Parliament approved a Bill replacing relevant sections of the penal code. Until now the death ... Read more »
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Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal says the death penalty remains constitutional in the southern African country in a decision that reverses a ruling from just four months ago when ... Read more »
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Malawi's highest court has outlawed the death penalty and ordered the re-sentencing of all convicts facing execution. Capital punishment has long been mandatory in Malawi for ... Read more »
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With the conviction of Maryam Sanda for the murder of her husband Bilyaminu Bello, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also weighed in on the country's continued use ... Read more »
