‘Virtual’ death penalty condemned

Leading rights groups yesterday condemned the sentencing of a man to death in the Nigeria's first virtual ruling due to the five-week coronavirus lockdown. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Lagos Judge Mojisola Dada ordered driver Olalekan Hameed to be hanged for the 2018 murder of Jolasun Okunsanya, the mother of his boss. All the parties to the case, including the accused, lawyers, witnesses and journalists participated in the session remotely from different locations via Zoom. In her extraordinary sentence, Dada ordered Hameed, ‘to be hanged by the neck until you be pronounced dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.’ Justice Dada is also quoted as saying ‘this is the virtual judgment of the court’. Human Rights Watch told the BBC News that the creation of the virtual court during the coronavirus outbreak showed a commitment to accessing justice ‘but the irreversible punishment is archaic, inherently cruel and inhuman’. And Amnesty International said a spike in death sentences puts Nigeria at odds with the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.

Full BBC News report