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JUDGE URGES ASSEMBLY TO REVIEW ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY

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By Bruce Asemota

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Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court has urged the National Assembly to review the desirability of section 18(3) of the 1997 Constitution which touches on the abolition of death penalty in The Gambia.

Justice Jaiteh made this declaration whilst delivering judgment in a murder case involving the state, against one Famara Kanteh.

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Kanteh was found guilty of causing the death of one Omar Ceesay by stabbing him with a knife at Manjai Kunda on the 9 January, 2020.

In passing judgement, the trial judge declared that section 2 of the 1997 Constitution permits the imposition and execution of the death penalty.

However, according to him, upon assumption of office, President Adama Barrow in 2018 placed a moratorium on the death penalty in honour of the Gambia’s commitments under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, ICCPR.

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“But without the National Assembly reviewing the desirability or otherwise of the total abolition of the death penalty in The Gambia, the courts’ hands are tied and have no discretion but to impose the death penalty. And as such in this particular case, the court has no option but to sentence Famara Kanteh to death under section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the laws of The Gambia,” he said.

Justice Jaiteh also stated that under section 28(1) of the Criminal Code, the Minister of Justice may issue instructions as to how the death sentence shall be carried out.

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