Sierra Leone lawmakers vote to abolish death penalty
FREETOWN: Sierra Leonean lawmakers voted to abolish the death penalty Friday, becoming the latest African country to move towards banning capital punishment.
A majority of MPs voted in favour of an amendment abolishing the death penalty, according to an AFP journalist who was present in the chamber.
Capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment or a minimum 30-year jail term for crimes such as murder or mutiny.
No execution has taken place in the country since 1998, and death sentences have often been commuted.
But Sierra Leone, which is still recovering after decades of civil war, has frequently come under fire from rights groups for keeping capital punishment on the books.
In May, Deputy Justice Minister Umaru Napoleon Koroma announced that the government would move to ban the death penalty to “uphold the fundamental human rights of Sierra Leoneans”.
During a lively debate in the 146-legislature on Friday, Mathew Nyumah, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party, urged MPs to vote for abolition.
“Please understand this is something we are sacrificing to meet international best practice,” he said.
President Julius Maada Bio must still sign off on the abolition voted by parliament before it becomes law.
The president thanked citizens MPs and rights groups in a statement on social media after the vote, saying they had “steadfastly stood with us to make history”.
The vote in Sierra Leone comes as the use of capital punishment has been falling across the African continent, and more countries have been outlawing the practice.
Falling executions
Sierra Leone’s 1991 constitution allows the use of the death penalty for aggravated robbery, murder, treason and mutiny.
However, the last executions in the country were carried out in 1998, when 24 military officers were put to death after a coup attempt the year before.
The diamond-rich but poor former British colony was ravaged by a 1991-2002 civil war that claimed 120,000 lives.
A truth and reconciliation commission set up in 2005 to investigate the brutal conflict recommended abolishing the death penalty, calling it “an affront to civilised society”.
But the authorities in the nation of 7.5 million people resisted immediately abolishing capital punishment, and courts condemned 84 people to death between 2016 and 2020, according to the UN.
With the parliament vote, Sierra Leone is set to become the latest African country to abolish the death penalty.
Malawi banned capital punishment in April, for example, and Chad scrapped the practice last year.
According to Amnesty International, 108 countries had completely abolished the death penalty by the end of 2020, while 144 had abolished it in law or in practice.
Both executions and death penalties also fell across sub-Saharan Africa last year, the rights group said.
Recorded death sentences fell by 6%, from 325 in 2019 to 305 last year, while executions were down 36%, falling from 25 in 2019 to 16 in 2020.
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ReplyDeleteSierra Leone went through 10 years of a barbaric civil war that almost pushed the country back to the Stone Age.
In many ways, it has yet to fully recover from that period.
The prevalence of gratuitous killing from that period was a key reason why they chose to abandon the death penalty.
Malaysia has a properly functioning judicial system, and for anyone who has been sentenced to death, you can be sure exhaustive legal processes have been followed.
The two countries cannot be compared.
If Malay-sia is barbarous why not compare with Bullyland, the World Champion for executing the most people?
ReplyDeleteThe Most Barbaric Countries In The World.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/21/executions-death-penalties-continued-in-2020-amid-covid-report
QUOTE
China, Middle East dominate 2020 list of top executioners: Report
China is believed to be 'the world’s most prolific executioner', executing thousands of people each year
21 Apr 2021
...In its annual global review of the death penalty (PDF), Amnesty International said that the unprecedented challenge of the coronavirus pandemic contributed to a trend of decline in global executions between January and December 2020. But authorities in 18 countries continued executing last year....
China is believed to be “the world’s most prolific executioner”, executing thousands of people each year, said the report.
But with Chinese authorities classifying the total number of death sentences and executions as state secrets, it is difficult to verify the exact number carried out.
After China, four Middle Eastern countries – Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia – accounted for 88 percent of all known executions in 2020, said the report.
Iran came in as the second-highest global executioner with more than 246 executions carried out between January and December 2020.
3. Egypt
4. Iraq
5. Saudi Arabia
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Don't worry. To me any country which has the death penalty is barbarous.
DeleteHmmm, I wonder which barbarous country comes after Saudi Arabia, wakakakakaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa you white balls carrier
Wakakakakakaka…
DeleteThose criminals in China die for the crimes they committed!
& if u read Chinese official crime statistics, all the capital crimes r listed right up to the founding of the CPC China!
Where's that piece of shit that Chinese authorities classifying the total number of death sentences and executions as state secrets?
Ooop… as always, from that fart filled well!
Meanwhile ten of thousands die in USofA just bcoz someone don't like yr skin colour/in the wrong place at the wrong time/gang fights for drugs& prostitutions etc etc.
Blurred mfer, could that be anything more barbaric than that?
Or they r the beautiful sights that u r so craving for!
Harapan wanted to abolish the Death Penalty and managed to impose a moratorium but MCA continue to be so Zalim and Barbaric, sapot....
ReplyDeleteWhat Race Does MCA Claim to Champion?
QUOTE
Why is MCA so gung-ho about abolishing the death penalty?
Kua Kia Soong
8 Mar 2019
COMMENT | If there is one reform the Pakatan Harapan government has almost achieved, it is the effort to table a Bill to abolish the death penalty although they seem to backtrack whenever there is a crime of passion followed by a public uproar.
And just as laudable, Harapan has imposed a moratorium on execution for drug-related offences. In Parliament, they will face opposition to this Bill by MCA and PAS.
Considering the MCA leaders have been so vehement in their opposition to PAS’ ‘hudud’ laws on the grounds that they are appalled by such punishment which allows the amputation of hands, I am truly surprised at their passion in wanting to retain the death penalty in this country.
Isn’t the death penalty more monstrous than the amputation of limbs? In fact, the two rival parties of MCA and PAS seem to have arrived at an alliance to fight for the retention of the death penalty. For some puzzling reason, the DAP seems to be rather defensive against MCA’s onslaught and their top leaders have not come out openly to call for the abolition of the death penalty.
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MCA Youth campaign against the abolition of the death penalty
21-11-2018
Press release by MCA Youth Exectuive Team Against the Abolition of the Death Penalty
MCA Youth campaign against the abolition of the death penalty
The MCA Youth Executive Team Against the Abolition of the Death Penalty displayed giant banners in front of KLCC, in hope that more people can help convey the message to raise public awareness on the issue
Responding to nationwide calls and concerns against the proposal by the Pakatan Harapan government to amend laws to enable the abolition of capital punishment, the MCA Youth Executive Team Against the Abolition of the Death Penalty had on 20 Nov 2018 launched an ‘‘MCA Youth Against Abolition of the Death Penalty’’ campaign at the KLCC business district. Receiving overwhelming response from people of all ethnicities, the campaign accumulated a total of 300 signatures within an hour.
The MCA Youth Executive Team Against the Abolition of the Death Penalty also displayed giant banners at areas surrounding KLCC to convey the message to members of public, so as to raise more public awareness on the issue.
MCA Youth Central Committee member cum person-in-charge of the MCA Youth Executive Team Against the Abolition of the Death Penalty Heng Zhi Li informed that “MCA Youths hopes to convey the public’s sentiments on the death penalty to the government, and demands that the government reviews its proposal to abolish capital punishment.”
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DAP with 42 failed to push through against 1 MCA - Boe Laam Phar, wakakaka
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