Malawi's Supreme Court Makes 'U-turn' on Death Penalty Ban

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

48% : BLANTRYE, MALAWI - Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal says the death penalty remains constitutional in the southern African country.
46% : In his judgment, Justice Dunstan Mwaungulu, now retired, said Malawi's constitution respects the right to life - and said the death penalty negates that right.
44% : Justice Mwaungulu also ordered the re-sentencing of all cases where the death penalty was handed down.
43% : The decision reverses a ruling from just four months ago, when the same court abolished the death penalty.
43% : He said his parliamentary committee would opt for abolishing the death penalty if the proposal came to parliament in the form of a bill.
42% : So as it stands, it means death penalty still stands," Dimba said.
42% : That's why we think that a way should be found to repeal this death penalty"The death penalty has long been mandatory in Malawi for those convicted of murder or treason, and optional for rape.
42% : However, some critics say abolishing the death penalty may lead to an increase in acts of mob justice.
40% : He says although the justices have valid reasons for not backing Mwaungulu's opinion, the Malawi government needs to move quickly to formally abolish the death penalty.
40% : Lawmaker Dimba noted that many countries are abolishing death penalty.
40% : and I don't think parliament would have problems in abolishing the death penalty."
38% : Another justice, Rezine Mzikamanda, said the issue of the constitutionality of the death penalty was not part of the case they were handling.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.