March 25
SIERRA LEONE:
Inside Sierra Leone's maximum security prison for women----The Freetown Female
Correctional Centre houses about 90 women and their children.
The number of female prisoners in Sierra Leone has doubled in the last 3 years.
There are only 2 separate detention facilities for female prisoners in the
country.
The largest separate detention facility is the Freetown Female Correctional
Centre which holds around 90 female prisoners and their children.
Women on death row or those who are serving life imprisonment sentences are
also held at the facility.
Sierra Leone still retains the death penalty for murder, treason and armed
robbery.
However, the majority of female prisoners are arrested for minor, petty
offences such as theft, loitering, disorderly behaviour or debt.
These laws are vague, poorly defined and disproportionately impact the poor.
Many women spend excessive time in prison waiting for their trial to be heard
or serving sentences simply because they cannot afford to pay the alternative
fine.
AdvocAid Sierra Leone is the only holistic organisation working to provide
access to justice, education and empowerment for women and girls in conflict
with the law in Sierra Leone.
AdvocAid has freed 4 women on death row through appeals or pardons and provided
free legal advice to over 4,000 women since 2006.
(source: aljazeera.com)
ZIMBABWE:
Commuting death sentences is highly appreciated
In response to the decision by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to commute the
death sentences of prisoners who have been on death row for more than 10 years,
Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa, Muleya
Mwananyanda, said:
"President Emmerson Mnangagwa's has taken a very progressive step in deciding
to spare the prisoners from the hangman's noose. His action is commendable, but
he must build on this positive momentum by ensuring Zimbabwe abolishing the
death penalty completely.
"Countries around the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa, are moving away
from using the death penalty. There is no credible evidence that the death
penalty has a greater deterrent effect on crime than imprisonment. We call on
President Mnangagwa to move swiftly to establish an official moratorium on
executions as a 1st step towards abolishing this cruel and inhuman punishment
altogether."
Background
President Mnangagwa has invoked the provisions of section 112 of the
constitution of Zimbabwe to commute to life imprisonment the death sentences of
prisoners on death row for more than 10 years.
Zimbabwe has not carried out any executions since 2005.
(source: newsghana.com.gh)
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