Kenyan Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi announced that those on the nation’s death row will soon have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Murungi noted that he is working closely with Kenya’s President’s Office to bring the nation into compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. “We are committed to abolishing the death penalty. The death sentence is a violation of the right to life,” he said. In the 1970s, Kenya argued that the death penalty would deter crime, but the nation’s leaders have since found no downturn in crime. Following a 1982 coup attempt, no death warrants issued by the courts were ever signed by the President, and in February 2003, President Kibaki ordered the release of 28 prisoners on death row and commuted the sentences of 195 others.

(The Nation - Nairobi, June 7, 2005, on allAfrica.com). See International Death Penalty.