Human rights organisation Amnesty International-Ghana is urging President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to convert the death sentences of current inmates to prison terms.
The organization believes that this move will help to uphold the human rights of prisoners and promote a more humane justice system in the country.
“The death penalty is cruel, inhumane and degrading. It violates the right to life and the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” said Robert Akoto Amoafo, Director of Amnesty International-Ghana.
He added that commuting the sentences of current death row inmates would be a positive step towards justice and would bring Ghana in line with the international trend towards the abolition of the death penalty.
Amnesty International-Ghana also called on the government to establish a moratorium on all death sentences and to review the cases of all death row inmates with a view to commuting their sentences.
According to reports, there are currently over 130 inmates on death row in Ghana. The last execution in the country was carried out in 1993.
The call for the abolition of the death penalty is not new in Ghana, with various civil society groups and human rights organizations calling on the government to abolish it in the past. However, there has been no official response from the government on this matter yet.
