South Sudan Death Penalty Criticized

This article was last updated on May 26, 2022

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Led by Batisio Uliny, a student at the College of Economic and Social Studies, the students said the system of death penalty in South Sudan is unacceptable and the system should consider other types of punishment where the nation will benefit out of their labour instead of sentencing culprits to death.

He said that economically, the human labour of the man or woman sentenced to death is useful to the poor nation with poor food security as every man and woman has the right to life according to international law.

He said instead of sentencing the convicted criminal to life imprisonment, we should invest in agricultural activities like growing artificial forest to replace the natural forest that had been destroyed in search for living, growing food stuff to fight famine that has characterized the country for many years, roads are very poor and some are even impassable which could only be constructed by the labour from the prisoners who are sentenced to death.

He said the recurring conflict between families, clans and tribes will never stop as more and more revenge is planned by the parties involved.

“Legally, it has a setback on the legal administrators like the judges, magistrates, prosecutors who actively participated in the prosecution of the said law that sentenced the convicted person to death as the relatives and friends of the convicted person to death will in turn find ways of putting the life of those administrators to death or deform them for the case or court ruling their brothers and sisters,” he said.

Uliny said this creates fear and confusion in the legal system of the country.

“If the country could not be a single party nation, then these could provide a good percent of voters during the country general elections, but then the public does not mind about whose voters, life are being laid to rest idle under surface of the earth without any question being raised by public,” he pointed out.

He said that if South Sudan constitutional review committees are wise, then they should eliminate the article that stipulates on offences of a certain nature committed by and replace those articles for the convicted offender to be channelled to work in government firms, factors, and industries.

Meanwhile, a student from the same college named Charles Nyiyuo Amok supports the death punishment in the young nation.

He said death punishment in young nation is something under debate in the country that he has taken his position to tell the public that death penalty must continue for a number of years.

Amok said it would have been fair if the world could say he who kills a person will be sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour to the family of the deceased.

In November 2012, South Sudan supported a moratorium on death penalty during the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York where they adopted the resolution by 110 votes in favour, 39 against and 36 abstentions.

The resolution drew new support from Central African Republic, Niger, Tunisia 
and South Sudan. 

In September, amid recent spate of executions, the South Sudan Law Society (SSLS) called for an end to capital punishment and the abolishing of death penalty.

More than 200 prisoners on death row at Juba Central Prison in South Sudan are waiting for execution according to SSLS officials.

The SSLS said that eight men have been executed in South Sudan since the country gained independence in 2011 with two men being hanged in August this year.

SSLS said that the vast majority of people being sentenced to death in South Sudan cannot afford legal services and there is no functioning system of legal aid.

Without counsel, defendants are unable to challenge evidence and to call and prepare witnesses in their defence.

SSLS referred to the death penalty judgment as “unfair” in the country and stated that; “since the right to counsel is a fundamental element of a fair trial, the Supreme Court should refuse to confirm death sentences of people who have not had legal representation.”

If government proves reluctant to initiate reform, SSLS has called for the civil society to take a lead on the move. It has also called for the South Sudan Constitutional Review Commission to prioritise the issue during the amendment of the permanent constitution exercise.

With this trend of execution, SSLS says that South Sudan becomes one of the active world countries exercising death penalty joining Iraq, Gambia among others.

The Human Right Watch last year launched a report depicting deplorable conditions in the prisons in the country.