DODOMA, Tanzania - Tanzania’s High Court has ruled that there is not enough evidence to contest the nation’s death penalty, which means that it will remain in place, reports gathered.
The report reveals that Human rights activists had filed a complaint saying it is unconstitutional as it breaches the right to life, but after series of debate, the country’s court still insists that death penalty remains.
Although nobody has been executed in Tanzania since 1994.
Some 500 convicts in Tanzania’s jails face the death penalty or have seen their sentences changed to life prison terms.
“In Tanzania there are two offences which carry the death penalty: murder and treason.
Under section 197 of the Penal Code (Chapter 16), ‘any person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death.’ This is a mandatory requirement which leaves the court with no option but to pass the death sentence upon conviction of a person. However, the same section in its proviso exempts pregnant women, instead they are to be sentenced to imprisonment for life if convicted of murder”, Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Dar Es Salaam.
More than 10 African countries across Africa still have the death penalty.