Zambia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In January, ironically, the voice leading the call...
- News items in the archive
- 235
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Zambia is classified as Abolitionist de facto in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 235 news items on Zambia, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- DECEMBER 29, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and...
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and all those on the death row, [opposition] Patriotic Front president Michael Sata urged [Zambian] President [Levy] Mwanawasa
- DECEMBER 18, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambia's Supreme Court confirmed death sentences for...
Zambia's Supreme Court confirmed death sentences for 44 soldiers for their role in a failed 1997 military coup, but acquitted 10 others, citing a lack of evidence
- OCTOBER 27, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
A Zambian High Court sentenced Felix Mulela, a Christian...
A Zambian High Court sentenced Felix Mulela, a Christian church pastor, and his wife, Sharon Mulela, to death by hanging after finding them guilty of killing their domestic worker, Sara Soko, in 2000
- AUGUST 13, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, together with...
Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, together with Silvia Piccinini of the Italian Embassy in Lusaka, met with MP Doris Katai Mwinga, Clerk of the Zambian National Assembly
- JULY 26, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Moses Mulenga, 32, and Amon Banda, 36, were sentenced...
Moses Mulenga, 32, and Amon Banda, 36, were sentenced to death by Lusaka High Court Judge Gregory Phiri for the murder of Major Wezi Kaunda, the son of Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda
- MAY 30, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambian MP Chipangali Lucas Phiri said rape offenders...
Zambian MP Chipangali Lucas Phiri said rape offenders needed to be castrated or sentenced to death to serve as a warning to would-be offenders, the Times of Zambia reported
- MAY 21, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
"Human rights campaigners in Zambia won a major victory...
"Human rights campaigners in Zambia won a major victory recently when President Levy Mwanawasa refused to sign scores of death sentences, commuting all the sentences to life imprisonment," reported the Inter Press Service
- MAY 16, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Roel Goosen, 33, was sentenced to death by the Lusaka...
Roel Goosen, 33, was sentenced to death by the Lusaka High Court after he was convicted of killing Lillian Nkhata on August 30, 2001 during a prayer meeting in Lusaka's Barlastone area
- APRIL 19, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa appointed a commission...
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa appointed a commission to review the constitution and advise on whether to abolish the death penalty
- MARCH 30, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
More than 300 prisoners facing the death penalty in...
More than 300 prisoners facing the death penalty in Zambia are kept in overcrowded cells, where conditions violate basic human rights, Jethro Mumbuwa, the country's commissioner of prisons, said
- FEBRUARY 17, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The High Court in Zambia sentenced Gibson Zimba, a...
The High Court in Zambia sentenced Gibson Zimba, a former aide of ex-president Frederick Chiluba, to death by hanging for the murder of three teachers
- JANUARY 1, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambian Constitution of 1996, Article 12, comma...
The Zambian Constitution of 1996, Article 12, comma 1, provides for the death penalty
- JANUARY 1, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambia has signed and ratified the statutes of the...
Zambia has signed and ratified the statutes of the International Criminal Court, the UN permanent war crimes tribunal
- JANUARY 1, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambia Constitution of 1991, foresees the death...
The Zambia Constitution of 1991, foresees the death penalty in Part III on the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedom of the Individual
- JANUARY 1, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The last executions took place in 1997, when former...
The last executions took place in 1997, when former president Frederick Chiluba authorised the hanging of eight prisoners
- JANUARY 1, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambian penal code, section 43, foresees that the...
The Zambian penal code, section 43, foresees that the death penalty be enforced in cases regarding high treason, murder and armed robbery
- NOVEMBER 28, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Lusaka High Court sentenced to death Evans Mazuba...
The Lusaka High Court sentenced to death Evans Mazuba and sent his two younger brothers to prison for the murder of an eight-year-old girl
- OCTOBER 16, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Justice Lewanika, who sat at the Supreme Court with...
Justice Lewanika, who sat at the Supreme Court with judges Ireen Mambilima and Peter Chitengi, was delivering judgment in a matter in which William Chisha appealed against his conviction and death sentence for the murder of Abel Chikoma on February 14, 19
- AUGUST 16, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Lusaka High Court sentenced to death a 36-year-old...
The Lusaka High Court sentenced to death a 36-year-old man who strangled a security guard to death and stole a fridge and goods worth K1
- JULY 12, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
In Zambia performing artists joined the battle against...
In Zambia performing artists joined the battle against the death penalty with two workshops for directors and playwrights
- JUNE 21, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Black Saints Arts stage their two man act play...
The Black Saints Arts stage their two man act play Kiss the Hangman at the Chingola Arts Society on June 29 and 30
- JUNE 4, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambia Supreme Court quashed a death sentence on...
The Zambia Supreme Court quashed a death sentence on a farm worker convicted of murdering his lover for alleged infidelity
- APRIL 25, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambia abstained from the resolution 2002/77 on the...
Zambia abstained from the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- MARCH 5, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court sitting in Ndola quashed the death...
The Supreme Court sitting in Ndola quashed the death sentence slapped on two unemployed men by the High Court and substituted it with a 20-year-jail term
- FEBRUARY 6, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambian Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence...
The Zambian Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence imposed on a Congolese national for murdering two members of one family and staging three armed robberies in Mufulira in 1997
- JANUARY 1, 2002ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
The Zambian Constitution of 1996, Article 12, comma...
The Zambian Constitution of 1996, Article 12, comma 1, provides for the death penalty
- DECEMBER 5, 2001ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Patriotic Front president Michael Sata said though...
Patriotic Front president Michael Sata said though Zambia had acceded to a number of international conventions, he would still put the issue of the death penalty to the people to decide
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Zambians were sentenced to death for armed robbery...
Two Zambians were sentenced to death for armed robbery - one for stealing a bicycle and the other for stealing about £70
- OCTOBER 26, 2001ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
High Court Judge Peter Chitengi, speaking at a two-day...
High Court Judge Peter Chitengi, speaking at a two-day seminar organised by the Human Rights Commission, said law enforcement officers in Zambia have a total disregard or "a deliberate and conscious conviction and a decision to ignore human rights
- OCTOBER 5, 2001ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Adam Tembo, 29 and Joseph Musonda, 25, two policemen,...
Adam Tembo, 29 and Joseph Musonda, 25, two policemen, both of Kamfinsa mobile unit were sentenced to death by Justice Rueben Mwape of the Kitwe High Court for armed robbery