“Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved a law that abolishes the death penalty in the southern African state with immediate effect…
Mnangagwa’s move comes after Zimbabwe’s parliament voted earlier in December to scrap the death penalty.
Zimbabwe last carried out an execution by hanging in 2005, but its courts continued to hand down the death sentence for serious crimes like murder.
About 60 people were on death row at the end of 2023, according to Amnesty.”
From BBC.
“Lebanon took a historic step Tuesday as Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, ending a de facto moratorium that had been in place since January 2004.
The amended law removes capital punishment from Lebanese legislation, meaning courts will no longer be able to issue death sentences. It also specifies that crimes committed before the law entered into force will instead be punishable by life imprisonment.”
From L’Orient Today.
“From Vietnam to Malaysia and Indonesia, Southeast Asian governments are narrowing the use of the death penalty and edging, often cautiously, toward abolition.
At present, eight of the 11 Southeast Asian countries retain the death penalty. Only Cambodia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste have abolished it in law.
But recent years have seen most of the retentionist states abide by de facto moratoriums on executions and pass new legislation so death is no longer the mandatory punishment for certain crimes.”
From DW.
“The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday that the country’s National Assembly unanimously passed an amendment to the Criminal Code that abolished the death penalty for eight criminal offences.
Starting from next month, people will no longer face a death sentence for bribery, embezzlement, producing and trading counterfeit medicines, illegally transporting narcotics, espionage, ‘the crime of destroying peace and causing aggressive war’, as well as sabotage and trying to topple the government.
The maximum sentence for these crimes will now be life imprisonment, the news agency said…
The death penalty will remain for 10 other criminal offences under Vietnamese law, including murder, treason, terrorism and the sexual abuse of children, according to the report.”
From Al Jazeera.
“Younger generations of U.S. adults are far less likely than older generations to favor the death penalty for convicted murderers. As a result, overall support for the death penalty in the U.S. has fallen to 53% today, a level not seen since the early 1970s.”
From Gallup.
