Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Attorney General of the federation, yesterday said that the laws under which terrorists, including members of the Boko Haram sect are tried in the country does not prescribe death for convicts.
He was speaking in Abuja at the launch of Amnesty International’s report on Global Death Sentences and Executions 2015,
“Terrorists in Nigeria are tried under the terrorism prevention act which does not carry death penalty. That is why even those Boko Haram members who have been convicted cannot be executed because the maximum sentence prescribed by the law is life sentence,” he stated.
The AGF said he would be pleased to support any bill that came from Amnesty International on the abolition of death sentence in the country, pointing out that “studies have shown that death penalty has not stopped people from committing crimes.”
He also revealed that Nigeria is working towards ensuring that the country’s prison system is corrective and not punitive as it is today.
The Attorney General also promised to work with Amnesty International to stop execution of convicted criminals in the country if the International Human Rights body proposed a Bill to that effect.
Meanwhile, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Mohammed Ibrahim spoke about a “dramatic” global rise in the number of executions recorded in 2015 which saw more people put to death than at any point in the last quarter-century.
This rise in execution he said could be attributed to nations such as Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. These nations according to him brought the number of people executed worldwide to 1,634 people, a rise of more than 50 percent compared to the year before (and the highest number Amnesty International has recorded since 1989).
Meanwhile, the number does not include China where thousands more were likely executed, but where death penalty data is treated as a state secret.
“The rise in executions last year is profoundly disturbing. Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world.
In 2015 governments continued relentlessly to deprive people of their lives on the false premise that the death penalty would make us safer,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials. This slaughter must end.
“Thankfully, countries that execute belong to a small and increasingly isolated minority. The majority of states have turned their back on the death penalty, and in 2015 four more countries completely removed this barbaric punishment from the laws” he said.
According to Ibrahim, 2015 was a year of extremes. “We saw some very disquieting developments but also developments that give cause for hope. Four countries completely abolished the death penalty, meaning the majority of the world has now banned this most horrendous of punishments,” said Salil Shetty.
“Whatever the short-term setbacks, the long-term trend is still clear: the world is moving away from the death penalty. Those countries that still execute need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history and abolish the ultimate cruel and inhuman form of punishment” he observed.