In retaining the death penalty, albeit under very
restricted circumstances, the new Constitution has laid out an elaborate
procedure which must be meticulously followed under section 48 which
provides as follows:
“FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
48 Right to Life
(1) Every person has the right to life.
(2) A law may permit the death penalty to ...
In retaining the death penalty, albeit under very
restricted circumstances, the new Constitution has laid out an elaborate
procedure which must be meticulously followed under section 48 which
provides as follows:
“FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
48 Right to Life
(1) Every person has the right to life.
(2) A law may permit the death penalty to be imposed only
on a person convicted of murder committed in aggravating circumstances, and -
(a) The law must permit the court a discretion whether or
not to impose the penalty;
(b) The penalty may be carried out only in accordance
with a final judgment of a competent court;
(c) The penalty must not be imposed on a person -
(i) Who was less than twenty-one years old when the offence
was committed; or
(ii) Who is more than seventy years old;
(d) The penalty must not be imposed or carried out on a
woman; and
(e) The person sentenced must have a right to seek
pardon or commutation of the penalty from the President.
(3) An Act of Parliament must protect the lives of unborn
children, and that Act must provide that
pregnancy may be terminated only in accordance with that law.”…,.
Both the judiciary and everyone concerned are
dutifully obliged to scrupulously observe the above mandatory constitutional
provisions.
