Capital punishment in Lesotho

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Capital punishment in Lesotho is legal. However, despite not having any official death penalty moratorium in place, the country has not carried out any executions since the 1990s and is therefore considered de facto abolitionist. [1]

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Capital punishment law

Lesotho's death penalty law treats the death penalty as a mandatory punishment for capital crimes that a judge must impose unless there are mitigating factors. However, Mosotho judges still rarely hand down death sentences, and it is also extremely rare for appellate courts to uphold death sentences. [1] In 2021, there were only two people on death row in the country, [2] although in recent years prior, death row had remained empty due to both the number of times judges refused to hand down death sentences, and the number of times appellate courts would not uphold death sentences on appeal. [3] [4]

Although Lesotho is de facto abolitionist, the country is not a signatory or a party to any of the United Nations protocols that would signify their commitment to abolishing the death penalty, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR pertaining to the abolition of the death penalty within each signatory's borders. When it came to the United Nations moratorium resolution, Lesotho abstained from voting. [2] Lesotho has also abstained from voting on all four of the United Nations General Assembly's Resolutions on a Global Moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and it has rejected the United Nations Human Rights Council's recommendation to formalize a moratorium on the death penalty, abolish capital punishment, or amend its death penalty laws so that it abides by its international treaty obligations. [4]

Executions in Lesotho are carried out by hanging. [4] However, Lesotho does not have a formal professional executioner or hangman; for Lesotho's latest execution, authorities brought over a hangman from another country to carry it out. [5]

All death sentences handed down in Lesotho are subjected to an automatic appeal process. The sentences are handed down by a High Court, after which the Court of Appeals reviews the sentences. It is extremely rare in Lesotho for a death sentence to withstand the appeals process; most death sentences are overturned on appeal. [4]

Pre-independence history

One prominent historical example of a death penalty case in Lesotho prior to its independence from the United Kingdom occurred in 1948, when Chief Bereng Griffith Lerotholi, the principal chief of Phamong, and Chief Gabasheane Masupha, the principal chief of 'Mamathe in Berea, were convicted of carrying out the drowning medicine murder, or diretlo, [6] of a man named 'Meleke Ntai on 4 March 1948. [7] After being sentenced to death on 15 November 1948, they were executed by hanging at dawn on 3 August 1949. [8] The chiefs' executions took place in a jail in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, then known as Basutoland. The chiefs had several accomplices in carrying out the murder, and some of the accomplices were executed as well. [9]

The highly publicized executions of Chiefs Lerotholi and Masupha, two high-ranking officials, were hoped to have been deterrents to prevent others from carrying out similar crimes, but similar murders continued occurring anyway, albeit less consistently. [6] Another pre-independence death penalty case in Lesotho occurred in the 1950s, when another prominent chief and his accomplice were sentenced to death in November 1953 for the medicine murder of a man named Makotomane Mokale. [8]

On 9 February 1962, a group of eight people - four men and four women - kidnapped a two-year-old girl from her home and kept her in another village for two weeks, torturing her before they murdered her. The motive was again medicine. The participants, identified as Tsiu Lethola, Mookameli Lethola, Matsoana Lethola, Masaemone Lethola, Mapholo Lethola, Thebethe Mahaliza, Mamolieki Mahalika, and Malethola Lethola, were all arrested and put on trial for their involvement in the crime. On 5 March 1963, the Basutoland News reported that the High Court in Maseru had sentenced all eight people to death on 8 February 1963. The Lesotho Court of Appeals upheld the appellants' death sentences in June of the same year. It is unclear if or when any of them were executed. [6]

Post-independence history and recent developments

Lesotho reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council that the last execution they carried out was in 1995. [4] [10] [11] The man who was executed was Veddie Nkosi [12] (also alternately known as Sello Nkosi, [5] or Veddie Sello Nkosi, [13] although shortly before his execution, he claimed to actually be a Zambian national named Edward Donald Nduba [12] ), who was between 30 and 40 years of age, [3] and he was convicted of the murder of a woman named Makamohelo Tsola as he broke into her house near Maseru, robbed her, and raped her. Nkosi's death sentence was upheld by Lesotho's Court of Appeals on 16 July 1993, and Nkosi was executed by hanging on 25 November 1995. In previous executions, Lesotho imported a hangman from neighbouring South Africa to carry out the sentence; in this case, Mosotho officials imported a hangman from Zimbabwe. A second hangman also showed up to provide the first with "moral support." A witness to the execution was so disturbed by what she saw, that she reported that the execution disturbed her sleep and caused her to have nightmares. [11]

In 2003, the Sexual Offences Act added rape by a knowingly HIV-infected person to its list of capital offences. [4] However, the ruling permitting the death penalty for this crime was overturned in 2022, when the Constitutional Division of the High Court of Lesotho ruled it unconstitutional. The High Court's ruling followed the conviction of an unnamed defendant for committing a sexual offense while knowingly being HIV-positive. The defendant's trial court remanded sentencing duties to Lesotho's High Court because the trial court lacked the authority to impose a death sentence, and the death penalty was the mandatory sentence for the crime at the time. The unnamed inmate's attorney challenged the constitutionality of the sentencing law under the grounds that it violated Lesotho's Constitution and its guarantees to "the right to life, freedom from inhuman treatment, respect for private life, a fair trial, freedom from discrimination, and equality before the law and equal protection of the law." In declaring the law unconstitutional, the High Court of Lesotho did not altogether remove the death penalty as a sentencing option for the crime, but they altered the law so that the death penalty was not the mandatory sentence for it, declaring that the trial court should have the jurisdiction and discretion to determine an appropriate sentence on a case-by-case basis. [14]

Although Lesotho is considered a de facto abolitionist country due to its latest execution having occurred in 1995, there is no official moratorium on the death penalty in the country.

Related Research Articles

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorised, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basutoland</span> British colony from 1884 to 1966

Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basotho and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868, the Cape Colony was unpopular and unable to control the territory. As a result, Basutoland was brought under direct authority of Queen Victoria, via the High Commissioner, and run by an Executive Council presided over by a series of British Resident Commissioners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment by the United States federal government</span> Legal penalty in the United States

Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho</span> King of Lesotho, 1966–90 and 1995–96

Moshoeshoe II, previously known as Constantine Bereng Seeiso, was the Paramount Chief of Basutoland, succeeding paramount chief Seeiso from 1960 until the country gained full independence from Britain in 1966. He was King of Lesotho from 1966 until his exile in 1990, and from 1995 until his death in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in California</span> Legal penalty in the US state of California

In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.

The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.

Capital punishment in Canada dates back to Canada's earliest history, including its period as a French colony and, after 1763, its time as a British colony. From 1867 to the elimination of the death penalty for murder on July 26, 1976, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 had been executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 women. The only method used in Canada for capital punishment of civilians after the end of the French regime was hanging. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at Toronto's Don Jail. The National Defence Act prescribed the death penalty for certain military offences until 1999, although no military executions had been carried out since 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Singapore</span> Death penalty as a legal punishment in Singapore

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Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Malaysian law.

'Mantšebo was the ruler of Basutoland from 1941 to 1960, as the regent for her stepson, the future Moshoeshoe II.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in South Korea. As of December 2012, there were at least 60 people on death row in South Korea. The method of execution is hanging.

Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995 by the ruling of the Constitutional Court in the case of S v Makwanyane, following a five-year and four-month moratorium that had been in effect since February 1990.

Capital punishment remains a legal penalty for multiple crimes in the Gambia. However, the country has taken recent steps towards abolishing the death penalty.

Capital punishment in Malawi is a legal punishment for certain crimes. The country abolished the death penalty following a Malawian Supreme Court ruling in 2021, but it was soon reinstated. However, the country is currently under a death penalty moratorium, which has been in place since the latest execution in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masopha</span> Lesotho chief

Masopha was a chief of the Basuto people. He was the third son of Basuto paramount chief Moshoeshoe I. During his youth he fought in numerous conflicts against neighboring tribes and European colonists, distinguishing himself for his bravery. Following the incorporation of Basutoland into the Cape Colony, Masopha resisted the imposition of colonial rule and emerged as one of the most powerful Basuto chiefs.

Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is legal; however, the nation has not carried out any executions since 2003, meaning that the country experienced a de facto moratorium on the death penalty from their latest executions in 2003 until March 2024.

Capital punishment was abolished for all crimes in Chad on April 28, 2020, following a unanimous vote by the National Assembly of Chad. Prior to April 2020, Chad's 003/PR/2020 "anti-terrorism" law maintained capital punishment for terrorism-related offenses. Chad's new penal code, which was adopted in 2014 and promulgated in 2017, had abolished capital punishment for all other crimes.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. Despite its legality, no executions have been carried out since 1983. Therefore, Eswatini is classified as "abolitionist in practice."

References

  1. 1 2 Novak, Andrew (2016). "The African Challenge to Global Death Penalty Abolition". International Human Rights Norms in Local Perspective. Intersentia: 95–118. doi:10.1017/9781780685465.006. ISBN   9781780685465 . Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Lesotho - WCADP". World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 30 August 2021. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute (6 February 2011). "A Study of the Application of the Death Penalty in Lesotho". Legal Tools. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Death Penalty in Lesotho". www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 Owori, Moses O.A. "The Death Penalty in Lesotho: The Law and Practice" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  6. 1 2 3 Mbogoni, Lawrence Ezekiel Yona (2013). Human Sacrifice and the Supernatural in African history. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Mkuki na Nyota Pub. p. 87. ISBN   9789987082421.
  7. ↑ "Bereng Griffith, Lerotholi And Others v. The King Bereng Griffith, Lerotholi and others v. The King". LegitQuest. 25 July 1949. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Death Penalty in Lesotho". Centre for Africa Strategic Studies. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Murray, Colin; Sanders, Peter (February 2000). "Medicine Murder in Basutoland: Colonial Rule and Moral Crisis". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 70 (1). Cambridge University Press: 49–78. doi:10.2307/1161401. JSTOR   1161401 . Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Death Penalty Won't Solve Lesotho's Problem: Analysis". Lesotho Times. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  11. 1 2 "The Right to Life and Death Penalty". The Sunday Express. 7 November 2009. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  12. 1 2 Amnesty International (1996). Amnesty International Report 1996. 1 Easton Street, London, UK: Amnesty International Publications. p. 210. Archived from the original on 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2024-05-08.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ↑ Keir Starmer, Theodora A. Christou (2005). Human Rights Manual and Sourcebook for Africa. BIICL. p. 585. ISBN   978-0-903067-84-3.
  14. ↑ "Lesotho: Court Rules Mandatory Death Sentence for HIV-Infected Sex Offenders Unconstitutional". Library of Congress . 2023-03-29. Archived from the original on 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
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