Uganda abolishes mandatory death penalty

A hangman's noose. Uganda has 133 inmates on death row and no-one has been executed in the last 20 years. PHOTO | FILE

Parliament in Uganda has passed a law that abolishes the mandatory death penalty for certain crimes, amending four different laws that had earlier prescribed capital punishment, including the Anti-Terrorism Act.

If approved by President Yoweri Museveni, the amendments will restrict the death penalty to just the most serious of crimes, only at the judge's discretion.