Zimbabwe abolishes the death penalty – after parliamentary resolution now signed by president

The African country of Zimbabwe has officially abolished the death penalty. Parliament passed the resolution in mid-December 2024 and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has now confirmed the law with his signature.

He himself was sentenced to death for “terrorism” in the 1960s because he fought against the white government and racial segregation when Zimbabwe was still called Rhodesia.

The state in southern Africa has not carried out death sentences for some time now. The last time this happened was in 2005, under the long-term ruler Robert Mugabe.

After that, however, courts still handed down death sentences. This still affected 60 convicts whose sentences have since been commuted to life imprisonment.

The country’s courts are therefore no longer allowed to impose death sentences in future. However, the ban can be reversed if a state of emergency is declared.

The human rights organization Amnesty International praised the abolition of the death penalty as a historic moment for Zimbabwe, saying it was a boost for similar developments in other countries in the region.

However, the organization called on the government in Harare to also remove the possibility of reintroducing the death penalty from the law.

Sources:
https://erf-medien.ch/gesellschaft/weltweit/simbabwe-hat-die-todesstrafe-abgeschafft/
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/simbabwe-schafft-todesstrafe-ab-104.html