"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. Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shipakwasha, who was opposed to the death penalty, said: "the president, in his own wisdom, has gone ahead and refused to carry out the death penalty and commuted them to life imprisonment." "This narrows the chasm between the state and human rights activities who have been trying to get government to abolish the death penalty," continued the report. The government had argued that abolishing capital punishment would be a costly exercise involving a referendum. In Zambia, the only lawful way of implementing the death penalty is by hanging. Hanging as a mode of execution had been denounced by Amnesty International, as it conflicted with sections of the Zambian penal code which said a person shall not be subjected to torture or inhuman punishment. But, according to Supreme Court judge Anthony Nyangulu, Zambian law required that anyone found guilty of murder should be sentenced to death and the court had no discretion to rule otherwise. Amnesty International Researcher, Tor-Hugne Olsen, said that Zambia did not apply international standards for fair trials in its use of executions, thus constituting a major breach of international law.