October 10th was World Day Against the Death Penalty, an occas­sion that Amnesty International used to urge abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty in all African states. Amnesty offi­cials not­ed that recent devel­op­ments show a trend toward death penal­ty abo­li­tion among African coun­tries, and they stat­ed that the major­i­ty of the con­ti­nen­t’s nations have aban­doned using cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Senegal abol­ished the death penal­ty for all crimes in December 2004 and Liberia in September 2005. In March 2005, Kenyan offi­cials announced that they are com­mit­ted to end­ing the death penal­ty and are tak­ing steps to com­mute all death sen­tences to life in prison with­out parole. Benin and Morocco have halt­ed exe­cu­tions, and the Ugandan Constitutional Court recent­ly end­ed the death penal­ty for cer­tain crimes. In all, 13 of Africa’s 53 states have per­ma­nent­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty and anoth­er 20 coun­tries no longer car­ry out exe­cu­tions. During World Day events host­ed by Amnesty International around the globe, peo­ple signed a peti­tion against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment that will be pre­sent­ed to heads of state in Africa.

The World Day Against the Death Penalty is orga­nized by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, a group of 38 human rights orga­ni­za­tions, local and region­al author­i­ties, bar asso­ci­a­tions, and trade unions. 

(“World Day Against the Death Penalty,” Amnesty International Press Release, October 10, 2005).

See International Death Penalty.

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