Botswana
Two people were executed for murder in Botswana in 2018 – Joseph Tselayarona in February and Uyapo Poloko in May, Amnesty said. Ian Khama, who was then Botswana’s president, justified the death penalty.
“It is important to note that death penalty is not imposed arbitrarily in Botswana. In short, the application of the death penalty follows a thorough and exhaustive legal process that meets the basic standards of a fair trial, and the penalty is imposed for the most serious crimes as understood under international law,” Khama said in March 2018.
He added that the Botswana government does not intend to either abolish the death penalty or impose a moratorium on its application. This followed requests by the international community and human rights bodies demanding that Botswana abolishes the practice.
