Legislators in Sierra Leone have unanimously agreed to abolish the death penalty. It will be replaced with life imprisonment.
Reports say the decision of the MPs, when approved by President Julius Maada Bio, will make Sierra Leone the 23rd African country to have abolished the death penalty.
In May, Sierra Leones’s Justice Ministry officials expressed their country’s commitment to getting rid of capital punishment.
Amnesty International said last year, 39 death sentences were handed down, but no one has been executed in Sierra Leone since 1998.
The Rights Group said death sentences have often been commuted, but by the end of last year 94 people were still on the death row.