23 Jul 2015, 07:29 am Print
President Lungui commuted the sentences after his visit to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison, which despite a capacity of 51 inmates, houses hundreds.
“By commuting these death sentences, the Zambia puts a stop to mental and physical pain and suffering, and takes an important step towards ensuring respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,” Mendez underscored in a press release.
Heyns added that the decision is in line with the trend in Africa – as in the rest of the world – to move away from the death penalty.
He said, “As the United Nations Secretary-General has said, there is no room for this form of punishment in the 21st Century.”
However, the experts warned of continuing areas of concern regarding the death penalty in Africa.
Pointing to Egypt, they noted that hundreds of defendants are simultaneously sentenced to death in unfair mass trials.
Gambia is another worry. After abruptly ending a long-standing moratorium and hanging nine people in 2012, a proposal has been tabled to increase the number of offenses punishable by death.
They noted that President Lungui’s decision supports previous steps towards abolishing capital punishment in the Zambia, where a presidential moratorium on the death penalty has been maintained since 1997.
According to the Special Rapporteurs, three-quarters of the world has abolished the death penalty in law or in practice – and the same applies to the African continent.
Over the last two decades, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has not only consistently called for the abolition of the death penalty but also drafted a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty.
“These are very significant steps by the Commission, and if the Protocol is adopted soon by the African Union and opened for ratification by African States, that will give a renewed emphasis to the process of putting the era of the death penalty behind us,” emphasized the UN experts.
Photo: UNODC (file)
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