According to Zimbabwean government records, there are more than 60 people on death row.
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- Zimbabwe last executed a prisoner in 2005.
- The country currently plans to commute the sentences of 62 death row inmates.
- Death sentences are still carried out in 30 African countries.
If the Zimbabwean government abolishes the death penalty in 2024, the 62 death row inmates could have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
This was revealed on Tuesday after the first Cabinet meeting of the year chaired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
This abolition is scheduled to be implemented by a private lawmaker's bill to abolish the death penalty.
“The new law is expected to impose long sentences without violating the right to life. If aggravating circumstances exist, it could lead to life imprisonment,” the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting said.
Currently, Article 48 of Zimbabwe's constitution states that the death penalty can only be imposed for murders committed under aggravated circumstances and can only be sentenced to men between the ages of 21 and 70.
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According to government records, there are still 62 people on death row.
The last inmates to be hanged in 2005 were two notorious criminals, Stephen Chidumo and Edgar Masendeke, who launched the only successful escape from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in 1995.
Zimbabwe currently doesn't even have a hangman. Applicants for 2022 expressed interest in the job, two of whom were women.
As of last year, 30 countries on the continent still used death sentences.
However, 16 of these states or territories have not carried out any executions in the past 10 years. The death penalty was routinely used in 14 countries.
These include Nigeria, Botswana, Somalia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt, and Libya.
The death penalty has now been abolished in 26 African countries.
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