On August 2, Ditshwanelo, the Botswana center for human...

On August 2, Ditshwanelo, the Botswana center for human rights in Gabarone, challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty handed down to the two condemned men. The case is the first in which death convicts who have exhausted all avenues of appeal have obtained further court hearings. It was reported that the test case calls for a moratorium on all executions by hanging until legislation is drawn up to abolish the death sentence. Acting for the human rights group, senior attorneys from South Africa, David Unterhalter and Brian Spilg, said they would argue that hanging is cruel, inhuman and arbitrary and the men, being poor, had insufficient legal representation and did not receive a fair trial. The hearing was postponed to give the court time to study the documents. Observers in court included Lloyd Siame, an official of the International Commission of Jurists.