UNTIL last week Friday, 380 inmates were earmarked to meet the hangman and they would not emerge alive.
But thanks to President Hakainde Hichilema who abolished, from Zambia’s Penal Code, the death penalty, the inmates will only spend the rest of the days behind bars until natural causes send them to the grave.
The removal of the death penalty from Zambia’s statutes was a landmark and called for celebrations and yesterday, Zambians from different walks of life, joined by diplomats, gathered on the lawns of State House to celebrate the decision.
Although the inmates where not present to partake in the celebratory feast, President Hichilema, who himself could have been a death row candidate, led the celebrations.
Chiefs, diplomats, politicians and human rights campaigners sat by side, shared a meal to toast the decision.
The Head of State said he had abolished the death penalty law because its cruelty may have been used on innocent people.
On December 23, 2022, President Hichilema abolished, from Zambia’s Penal Code, the death penalty and the criminal defamation of the President laws.
The two abolished laws have been in the Penal Code since colonial times.
President Hichilema said he can bet that some of the executed people never committed crimes, which led them to being executed.
He indicated that if the prosecution, for instance, during his treason case, had stronger lawyers than his, and the trial went on, “we could have been convicted by one of these judges.”
“I was a happy detainee because I knew that I never committed that offence. But I could have been hanged by the neck until pronounced dead,” said President Hichilema.
“I found that this is an opportunity to end this death penalty, because others could have been killed yet they never committed a crime. Think about that! So, let’s do what is right when we have been given an opportunity to provide leadership.”
At the same event, Haimbe said the abolishment of the death penalty law has been a journey of several preliminaries that Zambia had to reflect on.
The minister gave a few statistics which show the extent to which the death penalty punishment was inhuman
“From 1964 to 1978, 406 people were sentenced to death, 34 of whom were executed. By the 1980s, 140 condemned prisoners remained on death row, 11 of whom were executed on 27th December, 1985. Another 18 prisoners were executed in 1989,” Haimbe said.
“In the period 1989 to 2000, at least 97 people were sentenced to death, most of whom were released while the rest had their sentences commuted.”
He added that: “currently, we have 11 female inmates on death row and 369 males on death row, bringing the total number of condemned inmates to 380.”
“Since independence, Zambia has executed about 72 condemned inmates. Today, however, we can proudly say that this cruel provision of the law is now a thing of the past,” noted Haimbe.
“Congratulations to you, Mr President, for taking such a bold step.”
Pictures by Salim Dawood
Kalemba December 29, 2022
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