Swaziland: Amnesty's 2011 report

Amnesty International has released its 2011 report on Swaziland, which detailed an overall negative picture of repression of dissent, politically-motivated security measures, police and prison brutality, excessive use of force, and deprivations concerning health, economic security, and women's rights.  The report also detailed Swaziland's status as a de facto abolitionist country.  According to the report, no executions have taken place in the country since 1983, and no new death sentences have been imposed.  Two people remained under sentence of death.

For all the criticisms possible of Swaziland's undemocratic 2006 constitution, the country has a relatively good track record on the death penalty.  Sandwiched between two fervently abolitionist countries, South Africa and Mozambique, Swaziland essentially wrote its mandatory death penalty out of existence in favor of a discretionary regime in a series of Court of Appeal decisions starting in 1999.  Dlamini (Daniel) v. Rex, appeal case No. 11/1998 (unreported).  The decision, confirmed in later Swaziland Court of Appeal cases, was essentially codified in Swaziland's new constitution in 2005 in a clause specifically forbidding the mandatory death penalty.  Swaziland Constitution art. 15(2).  I suspect it is highly unlikely that Swaziland will ever carry out another judicial execution.

For the Amnesty report, click here.

Mozambique: Extradition Bill Passed

The Parliament of Mozambique debated and preliminarily passed a bill setting out basic rules of extradition for foreign nationals who are accused of crimes.  Although Mozambique has ratified extradition procedures with other Southern African nations and with Portuguese-speaking countries, it has not had a legal framework for extradition to other countries until the current proposed bill.  Under the bill, extradition is only permissible if the alleged crime is a felony and is also illegal in Mozambique.  Extradition is not permissible for political or military offenses, or if the person faces torture, other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, discrimination, or the death penalty.

Despite some criticism that the bill does not properly deal with reciprocity, Mozambique is in good company when it comes to refusing to extradite criminals who could face the death penalty.  The European Union and Canada have such a policy with extraditing criminals to the United States, and the Portuguese-speaking world has been unanimous in its opposition to the death penalty.  Mozambique's constitution forbids it, and the country has been supportive of abolition at the United Nations level.

More here.