Two civil society organizations (CSOs) in Ghana have appeal to President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to grant amnesty to all prisoners on death row in the state’s prisons.
The CSOs want judgements of condemned inmates to be converted to life sentences.
The CSOs made the appeal in a media release issued on Monday, October 10 during this year’s World Day Against Death Penalty celebration.
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Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT)-Ghana and Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) joined their global partners to call for the abolition of the death penalty.
The Federation of International Action by Christians Against Torture (FIACAT) is the global voice calling on governments around the world to consider abolishing the highest form of capital punishment for various crimes.
The two civil society organizations want the president to give their request the needed consideration since general amnesty has not been granted for inmates in Ghana over the past three years.
The groups used the event to make a number of requests on behalf of Ghanaian prisoners.
It includes a plea with Akufo-Addo to as a matter of urgency intervene in the case of a 75-year-old prisoner in the country’s maximum prison, Nsawam.
John Narh Terkpe, is said to have spent 20 years on death row, 26 years life sentence in the Nsawam Prison.
The CSOs also appealed to the president to grant general amnesty to other deserving prisoners as means to decongest all overcrowded prisons across the country.
The groups argued doing so will help improve the health and living conditions as well as psychological and physical welfare of inmates in various prisons across the country.
This year’s World Day Against Death Penalty is the 20th event and on the theme: ‘Death penalty: a road paved with torture’.
