KENYA. CALL FOR ABOLITION AS THOUSANDS AWAIT EXECUTION

July 9, 2007: politicians from leading parties and prominent human rights activists have called on the Kenyan Government to abolish capital punishment. Justice and Constitutional Affairs Assistant Minister Danson Mungatana told journalists that the government was committed to abolishing the death penalty, but gave no target date for abolition. The last known official executions in Kenya were in 1987. From 2001 to 2005, 3,741 were sentenced to be hanged according to official statistics. In the same period less than 200 death sentences were commuted to life sentences on appeal. Environment Minister Kivutha Kibwana, Anyang' Nyongo from the Orange Democratic Movement, and William Ruto of the KANU party have all publicly stated their support for abolition. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has recommended that parliament urgently abolish capital punishment. (Sources: AllAfrica.com, 09/07/2007)