Zimbabwe takes step to abolish death penalty following cabinet approval
The Zimbabwean Cabinet has approved a bill to abolish the death penalty, allowing life imprisonment as the maximum sentence for aggravated murder.
The bill which is yet to be approved by the Zimbabwean Parliament was approved on February 6 in a cabinet meeting.
“In view of the need to retain the deterrent element in sentencing murderers, it is expected that the new law will impose lengthy sentences without violating the right to life,” Jenfan Muswere, Zimbabwe’s minister for information is quoted by local media the Herald.
When the new Bill is passed into law, Zimbabwe will join a list of African nations that have abolished the death sentence.
Rwanda in 2007, Burundi and Togo 2009 in, Gabon in 2010, Benin in 2012, Congo and Madagascar in 2015, Guinea in 2016 for non-military crimes and in 2017 for military crimes, Burkina in 2018, Chad in 2020, Sierra Leone in 2021, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia in 2022.
In 2023, the Ghanaian parliament also voted to repeal the death penalty, providing 176 death row inmates in the nation at the time with a reprieve.
