President Julia Bio Maada signed a bill on Friday to do away with the death penalty. He said the West African have had rough and cruel memories, and therefore some punishment should end.
Mr. Julias decided to sign the bill while attending a ceremony that was held in the capital Freetown. Parliament had discussed the issue at three meetings, and they agreed in July. Lawmakers also praised the President for taking that action to bring some humanity into people.
He referred to the punishment as an inhuman act. However, the head of state continued, “We today affirm our belief in the sanctity of life.”
Truly, the country has experienced war for many years. Rights groups have been at the forefront of fighting for the freedom of citizens. They demanded the punishment to be eliminated from the capital books. Umaru Napoleon, the Deputy Minister of justice in Libya, spoke to AFP about the matter. He said the execution had existed since 1798, when Britain freed some slaves. The rule was to scare away the slaves who wanted to escape.
The minister admitted that in 2020, around 94 people were under a death sentence. Some people said this was a good rule to scare away harsh criminals in the nation. But in a real sense, it is an inhumane act. Most of the death sentences in the country were commuted. Since 1998, no execution has ever taken place.
The matter came after the whole nation resisted on the matter. Most citizens were against it and forced some parliamentarians to discuss the issue. In May, the government paused the matter for further consultation. It was then that the parliament made its final decisions. Life imprisonment will replace the death sentence execution. A person will be jailed for more than 30 years rather than being killed.
Chad abandoned the punishment early last year. So we have many African countries that made the decisions. And the number keeps increasing.
The country’s constitution allowed the death sentence to fall on those with murder, treason, mutiny, and aggravated robbery. In 1997, 24 police officers attempted a coup to overthrow the government, and they failed. All of them were imprisoned. In late 1998, they were charged with treason mistakes, and the execution took place.
Sierra Leona engaged in the civil war from 1991 to 2002. Almost 120,000 citizens died during the fight. It wasn’t until 2005 that the reconciliation and truth commission set up an investigation over the issue. They called upon the country to revisit the issue because it made them look like an uncivilized society.
Almost 7.5 million individuals were against the idea. But the constitution allowed the court to pass such severe judgment on people. The President said the punishment shared some political opponents. But it was the right moment to let it go.
According to statistics by Amnesty International, by the end of 2020, 108 countries had scrapped away the scary punishment. However, the group said only 22 countries in Africa have managed to do away with harsh penalties for crimes.
The death sentence in the Sahara region was reduced by 6 percent. Furthermore, the execution was also reduced to 16 in 2020.
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