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KENYA: PRESIDENT KENYATTA SPARES 2,747 DEATH ROW CONVICTS FROM HANGMAN’S NOOSE
October 24, 2016: President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed commutation documents commuting all death sentences into life jail terms.
Following the signing of the documents on October 24 at State House, Nairobi, some 2,747 death row convicts will now serve life imprisonment.
This includes 2,655 male convicts and 92 female convicts who will be removed from the death row to serve life sentences.
The last commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment was done in 2009 by the then President Mwai Kibaki.
Invoking the Power of Mercy provided for under Article 133 of the Constitution, President Kenyatta on October 24 also signed a pardon warrant and released 102 long-term serving convicts.
The reprieve for the 102 convicts came after a thorough vetting by the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee.
The Power of Mercy is a prerogative power conferred on the President by the Constitution and entails granting pardon to reformed and rehabilitated convicted criminal offenders deserving early release from prison.
Present were Attorney General Githu Muigai, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, Power of Mercy Advisory Committee Secretary Michael Kagika Prisons Commissioner General Isaiah Osugo, and Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
(Sources: nairobinews.nation.co.ke, 24/10/2016)
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