Zimbabwe has abolished the death penalty, a top government official said Tuesday, saving the 60 prisoners currently on death row from facing execution.
Martin Rushwaya, the chief secretary to the Cabinet, said in a government decree that President Emmerson Mnangagwa approved the law this week after the bill had gone through the National Assembly.
With the passing of the Death Penalty Abolition Act 2024, the Southern African nation has become the 127th country in the world to abolish the death penalty. It carried out its last execution nearly 20 years ago.
Mnangagwa once faced the death penalty in the 1960s during the war of liberation known as "Chimurenga.”
Lucia Masuka, the executive director of Amnesty International in the country, applauded Zimbabwe’s decision to abolish the death penalty.
"This is not just great progress for Zimbabwe, it’s also a beacon of hope for the abolitionist movement in the region and a major milestone in the global collective pursuit for an end to this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” Masuka said in a statement.
About 24 African countries have fully abolished the death penalty, according to Amnesty International.
