Zim hangman's appointment 'disturbing'
2013-02-08 22:27
Special Report
Chinese vice premier Wang Yang has urged Zimbabwe to ensure peace and political stability ahead of elections this year.
Harare - Rights group Amnesty International on Friday
expressed fears that Zimbabwe is poised to resume executions, following the
appointment of a new hangman.
"This macabre recruitment is disturbing" said Noel
Kututwa, Amnesty International’s southern Africa director.
"[It] suggests that Zimbabwe does not want to join the
global trend towards abolition of this cruel, inhuman and degrading form of
punishment."
The remarks come after the government appointed a new
hangman, seven years after the post fell vacant.
There are at least 76 people on death row in Zimbabwe according
to rights groups, two of them women.
Zimbabwean judges can impose the death sentence for serious
offences like murder and treason.
The last hangings were in 2005, the same year that the
country’s last hangman retired.
A draft constitution endorsed by the country's two main
political parties exempts women, men under 21 and those over 70 from the death
penalty.
The charter which will be put to a referendum also prohibits
the mandatory imposition of the death penalty for certain crimes.
Amnesty said the death penalty should be abolished
completely.
"We oppose the death penalty in all cases without
exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the
offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner," said
Kututwa
- AFP
