Capital punishment across the African continent presents a complex, evolving legal landscape. While more than half of all African nations have formally abolished the death penalty in law or maintained decades-long moratoria on executions, a core group of nations retains capital punishment within their penal codes.

Legal scholars distinguish between "retentionist" nations which actively hand down sentences or carry out executions and "abolitionist in practice" states, which retain the legal statutes but have not executed a prisoner in over ten years. Recent security crises, counter-terrorism efforts, and political shifts have led several governments to maintain or re-examine capital punishment as a judicial measure.

Below are key African nations that continue to retain capital punishment within their legal framework and judicial systems.

1. Somalia

  • Primary Legal Framework: Penal Code and Military Court System
  • Capital Offenses: Terrorism, Murder, High Treason, Military Offences
  • Execution Status: Active

Somalia remains one of the few African nations that regularly carries out judicial executions, primarily through firing squads directed by military tribunals. The ongoing conflict against insurgent groups like Al-Shabaab has kept capital punishment central to the state's judicial and security strategy. While ordinary civilian courts rarely issue rapid execution warrants, military courts in Mogadishu and regional capitals frequently condemn individuals convicted of terror attacks, treason, and targeted assassinations.

2. South Sudan

  • Primary Legal Framework: Penal Code of 2008
  • Capital Offenses: Murder, Treason, Aggravated Robbery, Insurgency
  • Execution Status: Active

South Sudan retains capital punishment in both its statutory law and judicial practice. Under the nation's penal code, offences such as murder resulting in death, treason, and armed robbery carry potential death sentences. Executions, typically carried out by hanging at central prison facilities, continue to be handed down by courts as the government cites deterrence against violent crime and tribal cattle-raiding conflicts.

3. Egypt

  • Primary Legal Framework: Egyptian Penal Code
  • Capital Offenses: Premeditated Murder, Terrorism, Drug Trafficking, Treason
  • Execution Status: Active

Egypt maintains one of the highest numbers of capital sentences in the Middle East and North Africa region. The country's judicial system imposes death sentences for a wide spectrum of crimes, ranging from aggravated murder and high-level drug trafficking to espionage and national security violations. Judgments from civilian and military tribunals require mandatory consultation with the Grand Mufti, the state's highest Islamic legal authority, before a final execution order by hanging is carried out.

4. Botswana

  • Primary Legal Framework: Penal Code of Botswana
  • Capital Offenses: Murder Without Extenuating Circumstances, Treason, Mutiny
  • Execution Status: Active (Intermittent)

Unlike many of its Southern African neighbors, Botswana is a stable democracy that has consistently retained capital punishment since gaining independence. The legal code mandates the death penalty for murder unless extenuating circumstances are established by the defence. Executions are carried out by hanging inside Gaborone Central Prison, with the state maintaining that the policy acts as an effective deterrent against violent crime.

5. Nigeria

  • Primary Legal Framework: Criminal Code, Penal Code, and Sharia Courts (Northern States)
  • Capital Offenses: Murder, Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Treason, Blasphemy (Sharia)
  • Execution Status: Retentionist (Executive Moratoria in Most States)

Nigeria presents a dual legal reality regarding the death penalty. Federal law and state codes permit capital punishment for severe crimes, including armed robbery, terrorism, and treason. Additionally, twelve northern states operating under Sharia penal codes permit capital punishment for offences like adultery and blasphemy. While Nigerian courts hand down dozens of death sentences annually, state governors rarely sign execution warrants, creating a functional backlog of thousands of inmates on death row.

6. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

  • Primary Legal Framework: Military and Civilian Penal Codes
  • Capital Offenses: Treason, Espionage, Military Desertion, Murder
  • Execution Status: Recently Lifted Moratorium

For over two decades, the DRC operated as an "abolitionist in practice" state, sentencing individuals to death while maintaining a formal moratorium on actual executions. However, security challenges and armed conflict in the eastern regions prompted the government to officially lift its execution moratorium to apply capital punishment to military treason, desertion, and collaboration with rebel groups.

7. Uganda

  • Primary Legal Framework: Penal Code Act and Anti-Homosexuality Act
  • Capital Offenses: Aggravated Murder, Treason, Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Homosexuality
  • Execution Status: Retentionist in Law (No recent civilian executions)

Uganda retains capital punishment within its statutes, covering acts of treason, murder, and armed robbery. While the Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that mandatory death sentences were unconstitutional, requiring judges to exercise discretion, the legislature has continued to include capital provisions in newer legislation. Although civilian executions have not taken place in recent years, death sentences continue to be handed down by civilian and military courts.

8. Sudan

  • Primary Legal Framework: Criminal Act of 1991
  • Capital Offenses: Treason, War Against the State, Murder, Armed Banditry
  • Execution Status: Active

Sudan's penal system incorporates statutory provisions allowing for capital punishment across a broad category of offences, including crimes against the state, armed rebellion, and murder. Ongoing political instability and military conflicts have reinforced the state's retention of the penalty within both civilian and military courts.