After the decision of the High Court to hang 12 people...

After the decision of the High Court to hang 12 people on death row, John Gama, the High Court Registrar, said that the threats of bringing the noose back into Swaziland were nothing more than a form of shock treatment for criminals. He said that only the kingdom's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, could order executions and that Justice Minister Maweni Simelane did not therefore have the power to bring back the hangman. He added that the convicted killers on death row at Matsapha Maximum Prison could still try for life sentences during the Appeal Court in May. The move toward reintroducing hanging was sparked by a spate of murder cases, although the death sentence was suspended in Swaziland in 1982, after an international outcry. There were four murder trials in January and February, but they were not all completed.