The Supreme Court of Malawi last Wednesday prohibited the death penalty, considering it unconstitutional and ordered a new sentence to all those sentenced to death. Some Mozambicans are condemned to death in Malawi and, with this measure, their sentence is eased or reduced to life imprisonment. Part of Mozambicans sentenced to death are in the maximum security chain of Zomba.
The death penalty is still in force in Malawi for prisoners convicted of murder or treason, and optional for rape. Violent thefts, break-ins and burglaries can also be punished with the death penalty or life imprisonment.
However, as executions have never happened since Malawi's first democratically elected president, Bakili Muluzi, opposed punishment when he took office in 1994. His successors, namely the late Bingu wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda, Peter Mutharika and the royal Lazarus Chakwera also did not endorse the death penalty. The execution of the sentence requires the approval of the Head of State.
In a historic ruling last Wednesday, Supreme Court justices, who heard an appeal from a convicted murderer, declared the death penalty "unconstitutional", in effect abolishing the punishment. "The death penalty ... is tainted by unconstitutionality," says the ruling. This could be the first step towards the abolition of the death penalty in the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi. According to Amnesty International, Malawi last executed about two dozen prisoners in 1992 during the dictatorial regime of the late Kamuzu Banda. Several national and international associations have already received awards from the Malawian government to abolish the death penalty. The death penalty is still in force in more than 30 countries in Africa, but just under half in recent years. (F.I.)
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