Tanzania’s High Court has ruled against scrapping death penalty from the country’s statute books.
The penalty thus remains in the laws of Tanzania and can be used to punish people.
Human rights activists filed a complaint against the law hoping it would be scrapped just like other African countries have done.
The activists claim the death penalty is unconstitutional and breaches the right to life.
Although nobody has been executed in Tanzania as a result of the law since 1994, the court said it ought to still remain in the books.
There are hundreds of prisoners in Tanzania facing death. Some have had their death sentences changed to life prison terms.
Many African countries are yet to scrap the death penalty although some in recent years moved to scrap it.
The Gambia and Burkina Faso all last year scrapped laws that allow of punishment by death.
Source: Africafeeds.com
