Zimbabwe: Supreme Court to hear "unusual" challenge to death penalty

A death row prisoner has filed a landmark case with the Supreme Court claiming his impending execution is a breach of his right to life.

"I verily believe that the imposition of the death penalty is an arbitrary deprivation of life in contravention of Section 12 of the Zimbabwean Constitution," said Shepherd Mazango, who confessed to the murder of a Marondera farmer in 2002.

"Life is sacrosanct and should not be taken away even when a person is convicted of murder. The 'justice' of 'an eye for an eye and 'a tooth for a tooth' is not acceptable in a democratic society and offends human rights ...," he added.

Zimbabwe currently has 50 death-row prisoners awaiting execution by hanging. 3 of the prisoners -- George Manyonga, James Dube and Bright Gwashinga -- have spent more than a decade waiting for their sentences to be carried out.

In his affidavit, Mazango said delays in the carrying out of sentences, and the lack of information on when he may be hanged, made him "anxious everyday."

"God knows when I'm going to be executed ... It is traumatising," he said.

In the only statistics made public, Zimbabwe, 1 of at least 100 countries which retain the death penalty, executed 76 male prisoners between 1980 and 2001. All of those executed were murderers, although other crimes, including treason, can also attract the same sentence.

In 1993, Zimbabwe's parliament passed amendments to the constitution essentially stating that a death sentence cannot be shelved because it breached Section 15 of the Constitution.

Mazango says the amendments should be struck off because "they have the effect of taking away the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment."

In his lengthy affidavit, Mazango says his execution will rob him of "all other rights guaranteed by the Constitution."

He adds: "Punishment should be humane and should accord with human rights standards. I still hold rights irrespective of the fact that I have been convicted of murder." "The few blankets that are there are tattered and I am usually cold the whole night. There is no toilet in the cell," he says. "I use a 5-litre container that is kept in my room the whole day and night.

Source: New Zimbabwe News, April 6, 2010