Malawi: The Latest Country To Abolish The Death Penalty

     Earlier this year, we celebrated Kazakhstan's abolition of the death penalty. Now, Malawi has joined them, becoming the 107th of 195 countries to abolish the death penalty, not to mention the dozens of other countries that have abolished the death penalty except for war crimes and/or have not executed people in decades. 

     The Southern African nation has a checkered history in certain aspects of human rights law but has taken marvelous steps towards reform in a continent few Europeans or Americans see as moving much (Africa has the fastest-growing economy in the world, to be clear). Malawi's Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in a landmark ruling brought by Charles Khoviwa, a man who has spent decades on death row and turned himself into an upstanding citizen. Until the beginning of the 21st century, Malawi had a mandatory death penalty for certain crimes, a statute that was struck down in 2007 for being incompatible with Malawian values and rights. All those sentenced to death must now be resentenced, most likely to life imprisonment. These inmates are currently held at the nation's only maximum security prison, in Zomba, a prison that became famous in 2016 when its inmates recorded a Grammy-nominated album.

     The move was welcomed by Malawi's president, Lazarus Chakwera, a theologian who came out in support of abolishing capital punishment before the case was decided. It was, however, the result of nearly a decade of work by human rights activists.

     Africa is turning away from the death penalty: most nations have either abolished it or simply do not conduct executions or hand out death sentences. The few nations that do are mostly nations recovering from the grips of war like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, and Somalia. 

     In the nation nicknamed the "Warm Heart of Africa," for its friendly people, it is welcoming to see a friendly government.