The Zambian penal code, section 43, foresees that the death penalty...

The Zambian Penal Code, section 43, states that the death penalty shall be enforced in cases regarding high treason, murder and armed robbery. 
Zambia has not executed anyone since 1997, owing to a presidential moratorium on executions that has been upheld by three consecutive heads of State, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, and Michael Sata, each of whom personally opposed the death penalty. 
President Mwanawasa, a Christian Baptist of abolitionist leanings, from his election in 2001 until his death in August 2008, refused to sign orders of execution, commuting hundreds of death sentences. “People can’t be sent to the butcher like they were chickens, and as long as I’m President, I will not sign any order of execution. I don’t want to be the executioner’s boss,” Mwanawasa said. 
His successor, Rupiah Bwezani Banda, also said that he would not sign a death warrant for any condemned inmate despite the death sentence still being enshrined in the Constitution. Banda, who was Deputy President of Zambia under President Mwanawasa from 2006 until the latter’s death in 2008, said he would follow the footsteps of his predecessor. In fact, President Banda commuted death sentences of more than a hundred prisoners during his tenure, which ended in September 2011, when opposition leader Michael Sata defeated him in the September 2011 presidential election. 
On 26 May 2013, Zambia President Michael Sata pardoned 615 inmates with minor offenses countrywide while 113 have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Addressing the nation on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) on the eve of Africa Freedom Day, Sata said clemency was part of the celebrations.
On 25 December 2013, President Michael Sata, in a Christmas gesture, spared 10 other prisoners from the hangman’s noose by commuting their death sentences to life. That was not all: President Sata signed the order to commute 87 life sentences to 30 years and the release of two long-term prisoners from prisons forthwith. Those released were serving 30 years each for murder. Commissioner of Prisons Percy Chato was the bearer of President Sata’s unprecedented Christmas gift. Standing before the hordes of prisoners, he said: “This is the message I have for you and His Excellency [President Sata] has chosen Christmas as a symbol of hope because this is a day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.” Saved from hanging are Etombi Sitali, Cosmas Phiri, Mulonda Mwendede, Muchiwene Kubola, Charles Phiri, Richard Ngolofawani, Baton Mwaba, Jeffy Mukela, Isaac Zimba and John Phiri. The cases of the affected prisoners were considered by the prerogative of mercy committee who in turn advised President Sata on what course of action to take. The prisoners, through their representatives Lucky Chisuka, Kupe Kafunda and Linda Banda, praised President Sata for this gesture, and Commissioner Chato encouraged other prisoners who did not benefit from this gesture to continue petitioning the President to be pardoned.
On 4 April 2012, Vice-President Guy Scott visited the largest correctional facility in the Country, Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison, built in 1954, when the southern African nation was under British rule. He was the first high-ranking official to visit the Mukobeko maximum-security prison since independence in 1964. “After seeing for myself the deplorable conditions, I have concluded that this is like hell on earth and as such there is the need to address some of the issues. Human beings should be treated as such,” said the Vice President after touring the death row section of the prison. He said the Government would urgently address the issue of capital punishment and that he would ensure that the matter was presented before the Cabinet soon. “As government, we can’t allow the present situation to continue,” said Scott, adding that the orders to investigate what was going on in the prison came directly from President Michael Sata, who was elected in the presidential elections of 20 September 2011. 
There were 297 condemned prisoners on death row, but its official holding capacity is just 48. In some cases seven inmates were crammed in a cell which was supposed to have one prisoner. The Vice-President learnt that case records for 45 prisoners on death row had gone missing while appeals took long to be heard. “Even if you did not believe in God, when you are brought here, you can never go back to your old life, because life here is bad,” said Benjamin Miti, who has been on death row since 1993, awaiting his appeal in a murder case. “My fate is yet to be decided because the Supreme Court, where my appeal case is, has informed us that it is unable to trace my case. So I will have to wait,” Miti said. “Imagine: I have lived for 19 years without knowing my fate!” 
Zambia’s Human Rights Commission executive director Enoch Mulembe said the government must not only focus on the question of capital punishment, but go further and solve the problem of the conditions at the facility. “Prisoners do have human rights. They are humans who deserve to be treated in the same way the other members of society are being treated. Incarceration does not mean the end of life,” said Mulembe. 
On 3 February 2010, the National Constitutional Conference upheld the Constitution’s death penalty clause. Article 34 (2) states that a person shall not be deprived of life intentionally except for the execution of a court order sentencing the convicted of a criminal offence under the law in force. After a heated debate where some delegates said the clause should be retained in the Constitution while others said that it should be deleted, the conference decided that capital punishment should be allowed in Zambia. 
On 18 April 2013, the National Constitution Convention in Lusaka voted to retain the death sentence, which is in clause (3) of Article 28 of the First Draft Constitution. When the clause was first put to a vote on 16 April, delegates reached a deadlock and pushed it to a secret ballot, where 177 delegates voted for its retention while 138 rejected it. On 13 April, the Bill of Rights thematic group at the National Constitution Convention had rejected Article 28 on the controversial death penalty provision in the draft constitution. Article 28 (3) of the First Draft Constitution states that; "A person may be deprived of life if that person has been convicted of a capital offence and sentenced to death." 
Since 1964, when Zambia gained its independence, 53 people have been executed by hanging. The last execution occurred in January of 1997, when ex-President Frederick Chiluba authorized the hanging of 8 detainees on the same day. 
In 2013, at least 13 new death sentences were imposed, all for murder. As of January 2013, there were 361 inmates on death row at Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison in Kabwe.
On 30 October 2012, Zambia was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. On 14 March 2013, in its response to the recommendations received, Zambia rejected recommendations that would interfere with the ongoing process of constitutional review, and those included the abolition of the death penalty. Musa Mwene, Solicitor General of Zambia, said the final draft constitution would be ready by June 2013 after which it would be subject to the approval by the people of Zambia. 
On December 18, 2014, Zambia, as in previous years, abstained on the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.