SENEGAL: Parliament abolishes death penalty

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 13 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Senegal's parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty and the four people on death row will have their sentences commuted into prison terms, justice minister Serigne Diop said on Monday.

The West African nation, whose democratic and stable reputation has helped it become the region's diplomatic and expatriate hub, has not actually carried out any executions since 1967.

That year it sent two people in front of the firing squad, one for attempting to assassinate the then-president Leopold Senghor, and the other for killing a member of parliament.

But then there was a lull when convicted murderers were simply sentenced to life imprisonment. Many commentators expected capital punishment to be taken off the statute book when the government revised the constitution three years ago but the penalty remained.

More death sentences were handed down but not carried out, some as recently as this year. In July, two men, Mamadou Camara and Mamadou Sow, were condemned to death for taking part in a gang robbery in which someone was killed.

Now though, the death knell has sounded for capital punishment in Senegal. Justice Minister Diop said the abolition bill, which was approved with a resounding majority by parliament on Friday, would be signed into law by President Abdoulaye Wade later this week.

"The four people condemned to death are preparing their cases to be pardoned. The president will examine them and commute the sentences into jail time," Diop told IRIN.

International human rights group, Amnesty International, hailed the move and urged other countries in the region to follow suit.

It noted that Senegal was only the fourth country in the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to outlaw capital punishment, along with Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire.

"Senegal should be a source of inspiration for all ECOWAS and other African countries which have not yet abolished the death penalty," Amnesty said in a statement. "Other African states should now follow the example of Senegal and respect the fundamental right to life."

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