a remedy for the continuing psychological effects arising from his extended
incarceration at the hands of the Respondent State.
155. The Respondent State does not specifically respond to the alleged violation
of the right to dignity owing to detention on death row.
***
156. Regarding whether detention on death row violates the right to dignity, this
Court has previously held, in the above cited Msuguri judgment, that
detention on death row has the inherent potential to cause an adverse
impact on an individual’s psychological state due to the fact that the person
involved may be executed at any time.67 In the Rajabu judgment referred to
earlier, the Court similarly held that during their time on death row, the
Applicants lived a life of uncertainty in the awareness that they could be
executed at any time and that such waiting not only prolonged but also
aggravated their anxiety.68
157. In the instant case, the Court notes that the mandatory death penalty was
imposed on the Applicant in 2012 subsequent to which he was held for eight
(8) years on death row in Butimba Prison prior to the commutation of his
death sentence to life imprisonment in 2020. The Court further notes that
international jurisprudence has established that a delay of more than three
(3) years between the confirmation of a prisoner’s death sentence on
appeal and execution constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.69 The Court also takes note of its jurisprudence in the Rajabu
case where it held that eight (8) years on death row constituted cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.70 Finally, as the Court
concluded earlier in this judgment, the mandatory imposition of the death
67
Msuguri v. Tanzania (merits and reparations), supra, § 112 and Mwita v. Tanzania (judgment), supra,
§ 87.
68 Rajabu and Others v. Tanzania (merits and reparations), supra, § 148.
69 Attorney-General v. Susan Kigula & 17 Others (Constitutional Appeal 3 of 2006) UGSC 6 (21 January
2009) (Supreme Court of Uganda) and Catholic Commissioner for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe v.
Attorney General of Zimbabwe and Others, Zimbabwe: Supreme Court, 24 June 1993.
70 Rajabu and Others v. Tanzania (merits and reparations), supra, § 148.
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