Campaigners hail historic Sierra Leone move to end death penalty

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

45% : Noting that "civil society groups have fought for years for this cruel punishment to be abolished", Mahtani said the vote meant that Sierra Leone would become the first country in Anglophone West Africa to scrap the death penalty.
44% : Yet as a nation we can now be proud to know that the death penalty is no longer in our books," said Basita Michael, founder of Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ) and former president of the Sierra Leone Bar Association.
43% : The last time the death penalty was carried out in the country was in 1998, when 23 soldiers were executed by firing squad at the height of the 11-year civil war.
41% : Both executions and death penalties also fell across sub-Saharan Africa last year, the rights group said.
40% : Lawmakers vote to abolish the death penalty more than 20 years after the country's last execution.
40% : Capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment or a minimum 30-year jail term.
40% : The bill also gives judges additional discretion when issuing sentences, which opponents of capital punishment say is particularly important in cases where the person convicted is a victim of sexual violence.
40% : According to Amnesty International, 108 countries had completely abolished the death penalty by the end of 2020, while 144 had abolished it in law or in practice.
39% : Saul Lehrfreund, co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project, said: "We are delighted that Sierra Leone has taken this historic step to reject capital punishment and hope other governments around the world with swiftly follow suit."
38% : Human rights campaigners have hailed a "historic" decision by Sierra Leone's Parliament to unanimously vote to abolish the death penalty, more than 20 years after the West African country carried out its last execution.
38% : Following Friday's vote, President Julius Maada Bio is expected to soon sign the bill into law, which will make Sierra Leone the 23rd African country to repeal capital punishment.
37% : As of June 2020, 99 people were on death row for crimes ranging from aggravated robbery to murder, despite pledges from the last three administrations to abolish capital punishment.
32% : Sierra Leone is one of several African countries moving to end capital punishment.

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