Entries tagged with “Central African Republic”
Issues
Dec 28, 2022
Zambia Becomes 25th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty
Fulfilling a pledge made while campaigning for office, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on December 23, 2022 signed legislation abolishing the nation’s death penalty (pictured). Zambia’s repeal of its colonial-era capital punishment law made it the 25th sub-Saharan nation in Africa to abolish the death penalty. The new law also removed the offense of criminal defamation of the President from Zambia’s penal code. In announcing the repeals, President Hichilema tweeted: “Promised to amend…
Issues
Sep 20, 2022
Equatorial Guinea Becomes 25th African Country to Abolish Death Penalty
Equatorial Guinea has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 25th African nation to end capital punishment and the fourth in the past two years. According to state television reports, on September 19, 2022, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo signed into law a new criminal code that removes the death penalty from the statute books of the central African nation of 1.3 million people on the continent’s Atlantic coast. The new law is considered a major reform for one of the world’s most…
Issues
May 31, 2022
Zambia, Central African Republic Move to Abolish Death Penalty
Two more African nations have taken major steps towards abolishing the death penalty. On May 25, 2022, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema (pictured) announced that, in commemoration of Africa Freedom Day, he was commuting the sentences of 30 death-row prisoners and submitting a bill to parliament to end capital punishment in the southern African nation. Two days later, the National Assembly of the Central African Republic voted by acclamation to pass a law abolishing that nation’s death…