DPRU and DPP welcome abolition in Zimbabwe

On 31 December 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa assented to legislation to abolish the death penalty in Zimbabwe, making it the 128th country to end capital punishment. Zimbabwe had not carried out an execution for almost 20 years, but its courts were still handing down death sentences and more than 60 prisoners were being held on death row. All of their sentences will now be substituted with terms of imprisonment.

Professor Carolyn Hoyle, Director of the Death Penalty Research Unit (DPRU), and Parvais Jabbar of the Death Penalty Project (DPP), the DPRU's partner organisation, were pleased to assist with local efforts over recent years to bring about abolition. Working with partners including the Zimbabwean NGO Veritas, these collaborative efforts included producing new empirical evidence on opinion on the death penalty in Zimbabwe and undertaking political engagement to build a coalition of advocates for abolition. 

Carolyn and Parvais reflect on Zimbabwe's path to abolition after a long period without executions, and their involvement in the abolitionist coalition over the past decade, in a new article published on the DPRU Blog.

Photo credit: Terry Feuerborn via Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0.