Zimbabwe joins 24 African nations in ending capital punishment as President Mnangagwa signs abolition bill into law.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has abolished the death penalty, transforming sentences for approximately 60 death row inmates and ending a practice dating back to British colonial rule.

The Death Penalty Abolition Act, signed into law on Tuesday, makes Zimbabwe the 113th country globally to end capital punishment. The last execution in Zimbabwe was carried out in 2005, though courts continued issuing death sentences for serious crimes.

“This is more than a legal reform; it is a statement of our commitment to justice and humanity,” Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said.

Mnangagwa’s support for abolition stems from personal experience – he faced a death sentence in the 1960s for sabotage during Zimbabwe’s independence struggle, later commuted to 10 years imprisonment.

Amnesty International praised the decision as a “beacon of hope” for the region but criticized a provision allowing capital punishment during states of emergency.

Death row inmates will receive new sentences, with judges considering crime severity, time served, and personal circumstances in their determinations.

The reform comes despite criticism of Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party’s authoritarian governance since Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United States conducted the most executions globally in 2023, according to Amnesty International.