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256 Death Sentences Commuted Into Life in Tanzania
Article by Louis Linel published on December 11th, 2020
The President of Tanzania commuted 256 death sentences into life in prison.
On the occasion of Tanzania's Independence Day, on 9 December, President John Magufuli announced he would commute the death sentences of 256 convicts into life imprisonment.
"The law say I must hang all 256 of them. [But] [w]ho will be more sinful – those convicted of killing one, two, or three people, or me, who is required to kill 256?" John Magufuli further explained.
The last known execution in Tanzania was carried out in 1994, yet this landmark decision marks a significant first for the country, and offers new impetus to the abolitionist movement both at national and international level.