Feb. 4
UGANDA:
Museveni Petitioned On Death Penalty
Amnesty International has asked Uganda to drop the death penalty. The
body's French arm has written to President Yoweri Museveni with at least
650 signatures of French Nationals from Marseilles, Southern France,
expressing their concern about Uganda's continued imposition of the death
penalty.
The letter was copied to, among others, the Prime Minister, Prof Apollo
Nsibambi, the Justice Minister, Dr Khiddu Makubuya and non-governmental
human rights organisations in Kampala.
This comes at a time when at least 417 prisoners on the death row in
Uganda's maximum-security prisons are petitioning the Constitutional Court
to scrap the death penalty. The court concluded the hearing of the case
last week and justices are yet to deliver their decision.
The group President, Mr Bruno Canivenc, said Uganda has been party to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1987.
An international human rights instrument stipulates that every human being
has the inherent right to life and it shall be protected by law. It says
no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.
"However, I am deeply concerned that the death sentence is still imposed
in Uganda, which had at least 500 people on death row by July 2004.
Elsewhere in the world, there is a positive trend towards the abolition of
the death penalty," Canivenc said.
He said besides Angola, Cape Verde, Cote d'lvoire, Djibouti,
Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and South Africa
that have already abolished the death penalty for all crimes, at least 10
others have not implemented a death sentence for the last 10 years.
"Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence
that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other
punishments," Canivenc said.
Amnesty urged Uganda to follow a positive trend to ratify the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and take measures to progressively abolish the penalty.
(source: The Monitor)
