National Catholic Register

  Zambian Church Seeks Total Ban on Death Penalty

 03/04/04

  LUSAKA , Zambia - The Catholic Church in  Zambia has cheered the verbal support given by President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa for the abolition of the death penalty in the southern African nation.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in  Zambia has been promoting the abolition of the death penalty since 2000. The Church's crusade for the abolition of capital punishment enjoys support from human-rights groups such as the Zambian Human Rights Commission and the Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development.

During a Feb. 27 news conference at his official residence in Lusaka, Mwanawasa, Zambia's third president, was praised when he commuted the death sentences of 46 treason convicts for a failed 1997 coup attempt to jail terms of between 10 and 20 years.

"As long as I remain president of  Zambia  , I will not sign any death warrant because of my profound conviction that life is sacred and a special gift from God that should not be abused in any circumstances," pledged the president, a lawyer.

A Jehovah's Witness turned Baptist, Mwanawasa repeated his message to the Catholic bishops in response to a letter from Zambia  Bishops' Conference secretary-general, Father Ignatius Mwebe, who thanked the president for sparing the lives of the 1997 coup convicts and for urging the abolition of the death penalty.

"We applaud this courageous decision on your part," bishops' conference president Archbishop Merdado Mazombwe of Lusaka  and Father Mwebe said in a letter released to the media. "We are further heartened by your pledge never to sign any death warrant for as long as you remain president."

"As we salute you and your government," the bishops added, "we want to urge you to go an extra mile and completely abolish the death penalty altogether."