Reacting to news that Zimbabwe’s Senate has passed the Death Penalty Abolition Bill on 11 December 2024, which now awaits the President’s assent, Amnesty International Zimbabwe’s Executive Director, Lucia Masuka, said:
“The Senate’s historic vote is a major step by Zimbabwe towards the abolition of the death penalty. It is also a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and strengthen the protection of the right to life and other human rights.
The Senate’s historic vote is a major step by Zimbabwe towards the abolition of the death penalty. It is also a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and strengthen the protection of the right to life and other human rights.
Amnesty International Zimbabwe’s Executive Director, Lucia Masuka
“Amnesty International commends the progressive legislative efforts made so far to make the abolition of the death penalty from the country’s statutes a reality.
Amnesty International commends the progressive legislative efforts made so far to make the abolition of the death penalty from the country’s statutes a reality.
Lucia Masuka
“We urge the President to take heed of this historic landmark decision by signing this draft act without delay and commuting all death sentences to prison terms. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and has no place in our world.”
Background
Since 1977, Amnesty International campaigned for global abolition of the death penalty. Zimbabwe has made some progress in restricting the use of the death penalty, including by establishing an unofficial moratorium on executions. The president also regularly commutes death sentences to life imprisonment. However, courts continue to impose death sentences, though Zimbabwe carried out its last execution in 2005.
In February this year, anti-death penalty campaigners welcomed the Zimbabwean Cabinet’s approval of principles for a bill to remove the death penalty from its criminal codes.
In November 2024, Zimbabwe voted in favour of the UN General Assembly’s resolution draft moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Currently, Zimbabwe’s constitution allows the death penalty in cases of murder committed under aggravating circumstances.