ZAMBIA. MWANAWASA MAINTAINES HE WILL NOT SIGN ANY WARRANTS TO HANG PEOPLE

In Zambia, President Levy Mwanawasa maintained that he will not sign any warrants to hang people that face the death penalty. Instead the President has indicated that he would soon sign a statutory instrument in which death sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment. The High Court and the Supreme Court are still issuing death penalties because it is still part of Zambian law. Abolition could only be effected if that is reflected in the new Constitution. However, recommendations to the Mung'omba-led Constitutional Review Commission have not been enacted into law. Most of the petitioners submitted that the new constitution be adopted by a Constituent Assembly, but this is not provided for in the current Constitution.