TANZANIA. DEATH CONSIDERED FOR RAPISTS

alarmed by a surge in sex crimes, Tanzanian lawmakers considered the introduction of the death penalty, castration and caning for convicted rapists. Legislators led by female member of parliament Esther Nyawazwa of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM) called for toughening the existing penalties for rape and other sex crimes to stem the trend.
"To curb these offenses, we need very stiff penalties, like death sentences," Nyawazwa told her colleagues after listening to a report on rising sexual crimes presented by deputy justice minister Mathias Chikawe.
"Regular offenders should be caned and castrated," she said, drawing support from many of Tanzania's other women MPs, who made up 30 percent of the 250-member parliament that sits in the administrative capital of Dodoma.
It was not immediately clear whether Nyawazwa would introduce a bill calling for the new punishments that would amend the existing penalty of a maximum of 30 years in prison for sex offenses.
Chikawe agreed the sex crime statistics -- which showed a 298.6-percent increase in rape and related offenses between 1998 and 2004 -- were troubling but said he believed the death penalty was too harsh.
"The number of rape and other sexual offences cases are alarmingly on the rise," he said. "Yes, there need to review the penalty, but certainly not capital punishment. It is too much."