KENYA: CONVICT PUTS DEATH LAW ON TRIAL

a man on death row in Kenya, Godfrey Mutiso, is challenging the mandatory death sentence imposed on persons convicted for murder. His lawyer, Mr William Wameyo, argued before the Court of Appeal in Mombasa that it was unconstitutional for the Penal Code to provide that persons found guilty of murder should automatically be sentenced to death. This, he told appellate judges Riaga Omolo, Onyango Otieno and Philip Waki, goes against a section of the Constitution which deals with the protection of persons against inhuman and degrading punishment. Mutiso was sentenced last year by High Court judge Joseph Sergon after he was found guilty of murdering Patrick Waweru Gachoki in Mkomani in 2004. The three judges directed that a hearing date be fixed in March.