According to Amnesty International (AI), in its most recent report, capital punishment in Sub-Saharan African countries has decreased by 67%, from 33 in 2021 to just 11 last year, while death penalty sentences have decreased by 20%, from 373 to 298 during the same time period.
Five individuals were put to death in South Sudan, down from nine in 2021, and only six people were put to death in Somalia last year, down from 21 in 2021.
Botswana, which carried out one execution in 2021, did not carry out any in 2018. Death sentences were recorded in all of Africa, where they fell from 373 in 2021 to 298 in 2022, a 20% decline. Death sentences recorded in 16 countries last year, down three from 2021.
According to the report, the 20% drop in recorded death sentences was due to notable reductions in the following countries in 2022 compared to 2021:
Botswana (6 to 1);
Cameroon (4 to 0);
Democratic Republic of the Congo (81 to 76);
Malawi (11 to 0);
Mali (48 to 8);
Somalia (27 to 10);
Sierra Leone (23 to 0);
South Sudan (10 to 4);
Sudan (7 to 1)
Despite these reductions, two nations saw a notable increase in the number of documented executions in 2022 compared to 2021: Kenya, up from 14 to 79, and Nigeria, from 56 to 77.
Across Africa, a sizable number of death sentences were also commuted to life sentences, with some individuals even receiving pardons.
According to Amnesty International, “at least 240 commutations, at least 67 pardons, and at least 27 exonerations occurred across several countries in the region.”
According to the report, commutations occurred in Kenya (12), Malawi (25), Nigeria (48), Sierra Leone (117), and Zambia (30).
56 persons were granted pardons by the Nigerian government, compared to 20 in Kenya and five in Zimbabwe who were found not guilty by the courts.
On the other side, Nigeria had the greatest number of individuals facing the death penalty in 2017.
“At the end of the year (2022), at least 6 168 people were under sentence of death in sub-Saharan Africa, with those in Nigeria constituting 51% (3 167) of the recorded number,” the report said.
Moving away from the death penalty
Zimbabwe initiated national deliberations on whether to end the death penalty for those found guilty of premeditated murder in March of this year.
All death row inmates who have been waiting to be executed for ten years had their sentences lowered to life in prison last week.
Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic have all partially or entirely abolished the death penalty.
Equatorial Guinea’s Military Code of Justice still includes the death penalty as a punishment for crimes committed under military rule.
While Zambia substituted the capital penalty with a life sentence, both the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone have eliminated the death penalty for all crimes.
However, there was a 53% increase in executions worldwide, with Iran and Saudi Arabia seeing the biggest increases.