Government urged to terminate death penalty 

JUBA – A South Sudanese human rights, Reech Malual, on Wednesday urged the unity government to end the death penalty in the country since it dehumanized and cause trauma not only to the victims but to the society at large.

The rights activist’s call came days after the High Court condemned Babu Emmanuel, the killer of the 3 Rock city siblings, to death by hanging on Monday.

Malual, who is also the chairperson of Coalition on Public Interest Litigation told Sudans Post in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that the world’s youngest country should stick to a life imprisonment term of punishment as stipulated in the constitution.

“It is better we remove it as a country because we don’t see how it can benefit us. It was not part of our cultures, so why don’t we remove it and remain as our cultures demand us to remain. We have our customary law that we can adapt,” Malual said.

He argued that the judges should also do thorough sufficient verification before issuing the final verdict when it comes to such punishment.

“Sometimes there are people who are being sentenced to death for crimes they have not committed because of lack of due diligence,” said Malual.

However, the young advocate said sometimes certain judgment should be referred to as customary laws for the local authorities to handle.

“If you could see in our customary law if somebody kills someone, they only pay blood compensation. They don’t even sentence to prison. You and your clan can pay some cattle, maybe 51 depending on the culture of each section of that tribe,” Activist stated.