ZAMBIA ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY; NO PROSECUTION FOR CRITICISM OF COUNTRY’S LEADER

Sun 25 December 2022:

Zambia finally repealed two British colonial-era laws on Saturday: the death penalty and making criticism of the country’s leader a punishable offense. Southern African nation gained its independence in 1964.

Since then, colonial rules have been followed. The decision was made during the presidency of Hakainde Hichilema, whose party promised to abolish these rules if elected, according to AFP.

The party had been trying to repeal these rules for so long but had been in opposition for two decades, but the decision has finally been made.

A presidential spokesperson said, “President Hakainde Hichilema has assented to the penal code of 2022 abolishing the imposition of the death penalty and the offence of criminal defamation of the president, which has been on the Zambian statute books since (the) pre-independence era.”

The Zambian rights activists claimed that the decision is a “huge milestone” to remove those colonial laws that don’t fit in with democracy.

Caroline Katotobwe, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that finally now Zambians will be able to speak freely.

She said, “As stakeholders we are elated that this repressive law is finally done away with. Thus, allowing citizens to freely express their views without fear of prosecution as was the case in the past.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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