Sierra Leone: abolition of death penalty a major victory

On 23 July 2021, the Parliament of Sierra Leone voted in favour of a Bill abolishing the death penalty. The Bill is required to receive the assent of President Julius Maada Bio before it becomes law.

In February, President Bio officially gave the directives for the death penalty to be abolished from Sierra Leone’s laws.

In May, in response to the calls of the international community in Geneva during Sierra Leone’s United Nations Universal Periodic Review, the Deputy Justice Minister announced the commitment of President Julius Maada Bio’s cabinet to fully abolish the death penalty.

Reacting, Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa Director Samira Daoud said: “Parliament’s vote in favour of abolishing the death penalty in Sierra Leone is a major victory for all those who tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and a strengthening of the protection of the right to life.