Death penalty in Sierra Leone

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Death penalty in Africa :
  • completely abolished
  • only in special criminal proceedings (e.g. martial law)
  • Freeze of execution
  • applied

    • The death penalty in Sierra Leone is the highest sentence imposed by any court in Sierra Leone, West Africa . This is regulated in the Sierra Leone Constitution in Chapter III, Paragraph 16.

    history

    The death penalty was probably first carried out in Sierra Leone in 1898 on 96 people who have not paid their taxes. It has not been enforced since 1998, 100 years after the first application. Last 24 were in the year members of the military for treason after the coup in 1997 by hanging executed .

    In 2012 there were no people sentenced to death in Sierra Leone. Currently (as of the end of 2017) there are 39 people on death row in Sierra Leone . In 2017 alone, 21 were said to have been sentenced to death. In 2018, at least one woman was on death row in Freetown Women's Prison .

    abolition

    In 2006, then President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah announced the suspension of the death penalty. But it should remain in the laws. The abolition of the death penalty was announced by the Sierra Leonean Justice Minister in 2012 and 2014. In 2017 the government rejected the abolition of the death penalty, despite the recommendation by the Constitutional Committee.

    Criminal offenses

    The death penalty can or must be imposed for murder . This sentence for murder was last imposed at least in 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013. The death penalty can also be imposed for non-fatal robbery , according to Amnesty International . The sentence for high treason was last carried out in 1998. In December 2004 ten people are said to have been sentenced to death for high treason for the last time.

    The death penalty imposed on pregnant women is automatically converted into life imprisonment . People who were under 18 at the time of their crime are not allowed to receive the death penalty.

    Method of execution

    Legislation in Sierra Leone provides for the execution of the death penalty by hanging , under Chapter VI, Section 211 of the Criminal Procedures Act of 1965. Nevertheless, most recently in 1998, it was also said to have been executed by shooting .

    literature

    • Sabrina Mahtani: Death Penalty in Sierra Leone: Time for Change. Lawyers Center for Legal Assistance-Sierra Leone, Freetown 2005.

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991. Republic of Sierra Leone, 1991.
    2. ↑ a b THE DEATH PENALTY: A CASE FOR ITS ABOLITION IN SIERRA LEONE. Center for Accountability and Rule of Law, August 11, 2016.
    3. ↑ 24 Linked to Coup Executed in Sierra Leone. The New York Times, October 20, 1998.
    4. ↑ a b Govt. rejects CRC recommendation to abolish death penalty. Awoko, November 25, 2017.
    5. ↑ a b c Sierra Leone. Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Cornell Law School, May 8, 2018.
    6. ^ A b Sierra Leone and the Death Penalty. Parliamentarians for Global Actions, 2014.
    7. ^ Inside Sierra Leone's maximum security prison for women. Al-Jazeera, March 25, 2018.
    8. ^ Sierra Leone Government Promises End to Death Penalty. VOA News, August 28, 2012.
    9. ^ The Criminal Procedures Act, 1965. The Laws of Sierra Leone on the Sierra Leone Web, 1965, Chapter VI, Paragraph 215f.
    10. ^ The Criminal Procedures Act, 1965. The Laws of Sierra Leone on the Sierra Leone Web, 1965, Chapter VI, Paragraph 211.