Equatorial Guinea has abolished the death penalty, state television announced on Monday citing a new law signed by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, reported The East African.
The move was announced by the country’s Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue on Twitter.
In his tweet, the vice president said the president has signed a new penal code that totally abolishes capital punishment in the oil-rich central African nation.
“I am writing in capitals to seal this unique moment: ‘EQUATORIAL GUINEA HAS ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY’,” tweeted Vice President Mangue, one of the head of state’s sons and viewed as his likely successor.
A journalist called the event “historic for our country” in a brief announcement at the end of a news programme.
According to Amnesty International, the last official execution in Equatorial Guinea was carried out in 2014. But the United Nations and several other international NGOs regularly accuse the regime of forced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention.
The measure will come into force within 90 days following its publication in the official state journal and was approved in advance by parliament, where all but one of the 100 MPs represent the ruling party.
The 80-year-old President Obiang, who came to power in a coup in 1979, has ruled Equatorial Guinea with an iron fist for more than 43 years, making him the longest-serving non-monarchic leader in the world, a world record when excluding monarchies.
Equatorial Guinea possesses significant oil and gas resources, but the vast majority of its 1.3 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
The death penalty is still legal in more than 30 African countries, although only around half have executed people in recent years. Guinea’s government abolished capital punishment in 2016, Chad abolished death penalty in 2020 and Sierra Leone in 2021.
