Amnesty hails Sierra Leone’s abolishment of death penalty
Parliament voted on July 23 to abolish the death penalty in Sierra Leone.
CAPE TOWN, July 27 (ANA) – Rights advocacy group Amnesty International has praised the Sierra Leonean government for abolishing the death penalty.
Parliament voted on July 23 to abolish the death penalty in Sierra Leone.
According to the Guardian, the west African state became the 23rd country on the continent to end capital punishment.
The group said in a statement on Sunday that President Julius Maada Bio should, without delay, sign it into law and commute all death sentences.
It added that the passing of parliament’s vote in favour of abolishing capital punishment is a major victory for all those who tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and a strengthening of the protection of the right to life, it said.
“The president should also ensure that Sierra Leone immediately accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty,” Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa director, Samira Daoud, said.
Sierra Leone’s journey to this historic decision has been months in the making, after President Bio announced in February officially gave the directives for the death penalty to be abolished from Sierra Leone’s laws.
According to Voice of America, the country has not executed anyone since 1998, when 24 soldiers were put to death by firing squad for taking part in a coup attempt the previous year, the report revealed.
To date, 23 African countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
Out of the 54 recognised states on the African continent, a majority of countries still practice capital punishment, in part or in whole.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
