Zimbabwe - December 2024

On 31 December, President Mnangagwa signed into law the Death Penalty Abolition Bill which, with immediate effect, ends the practice of capital punishment, prohibits Zimbabwean courts from imposing capital sentences and mandates them to re-sentence prisoners who had received a death sentence. The legislation, however, contains a clause authorising the use of the death penalty during a public emergency. Zimbabwe has not carried out the death penalty since 2005, but prior to the legal abolition of the practice courts had continued to hand down capital sentences and, according to Amnesty International, there were at least 59 people on death row at the end of 2023.  

Sources: Death Penalty Abolition Act, The Herald, Amnesty International