Zambia’s president announces move to abolish the death penalty, as executions rise in the region

Zambia’s president announced that he is making moves to abolish the death penalty, a day after a new Amnesty International report revealed that the number of executions across east and southern Africa more than doubled in 2021, reaching 33.

In an address to mark Africa Day, the annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that his government wanted to end death sentences “and focus on the preservation, rehabilitation, of life, while still delivering justice for all”.

Mr Hichilema said he would also pardon 2,652 inmates, and was commuting the sentences of 30 who were on death row to life in prison. “We believe in showing strength in our compassion and we believe in rights for all citizens, including the right to life,” he said.

Somalia recorded the highest execution figure in east and southern Africa in 2021, with 21 people put to death. Nine people were executed in South Sudan and three in Botswana.

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Globally, there were 579 executions carried out across 18 countries, according to Amnesty, with Iran accounting for the largest portion by far, at 314 people – its highest execution total since 2017. Saudi Arabia more than doubled its number of executions in 2021 compared to the previous year.

Under international law, the death penalty is prohibited except for crimes involving intentional killing.

In Nigeria, at least 3,036 people are on death row, though no one was executed last year. Oluwatosin Popoola, a legal adviser with Amnesty International focused on the death penalty, said he believed this was due to a lack of political will, as Nigeria doesn’t have an official moratorium on executions.

Mr Popoola said the situation must be “harrowing” for those prisoners. “They live their life day in, day out, not knowing if they will live to the next day.”

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at least 81 people were sentenced to death last year, more than four times the number recorded in 2020. Various other African countries – such as Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe – have not abolished the death penalty, but are also not carrying out executions, Amnesty said.

At the end of 2021, 334 people were living under a death sentence in South Sudan; while in Tanzania, it was 480; 183 in Mauritania; 135 in Uganda; 95 in Sudan; and 66 in Zimbabwe. In Sierra Leone, where parliament last year unanimously passed an act to end the death penalty, there were 117.

According to Amnesty International’s figures, the number of prisoners living under a death sentence in sub-Saharan African countries appeared to be higher in former British colonies than in others.

“Both the French and the British introduced the death penalty in their former colonies, so it just happens to be the case that many French-speaking countries … have made better progress than the English-speaking ones,” said Mr Popoola.