Africa/Global: The death penalty worldwide in 2004

The world continued to move closer to the universal abolition of capital punishment during 2004, according to a report on the death penalty worldwide by Amnesty International. In Nigeria, the National Study Group on the Death Penalty, set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo in November 2003 published a report recommending the imposition of a moratorium on all executions until the Nigerian justice system could guarantee fair trials and due process. The Federal Government had not imposed a moratorium by the end of the year. In Malawi, President Bakili Muluzi commuted 79 death sentences and there have been no executions in Malawi since 1992. Lastly, in Senegal the Senegalese parliament passed a law abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. The law was adopted by an overwhelming majority. Senegal had not carried out any executions since 1967 but continued to pass death sentences, most recently in July 2004. It is the fourth West African state to abolish the death penalty, following Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire.