Uganda could bring back hangman

– Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni may resume signing off on death sentences after a long hiatus to help stem a wave of crime, he said on Twitter in comments that were quickly denounced by rights activists opposed to capital punishment.

Death remains the maximum sentence in Uganda for a range of crimes, including murder, treason and defilement, but no executions have taken place since 1999.

A prisons service spokesperson said there are currently 278

Kampala

inmates on death row.

In a tweet on Thursday Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, said he had been reluctant to sign off on death sentences because of his “Christian background”.

“But being lenient is causing people to think they can cause harm and get away with it. I will revise my position,” he said.

Ugandans have complained of a surge in crime in recent years, especially around the capital Kampala in central Uganda.

A series of gruesome but still unsolved murders last year of women whose bodies were dumped on roadsides in a wide area south of Kampala was widely covered in the media, as were machete attacks on New Year’s Day that killed five people in rural locations.

Government critics often accuse Uganda’s police of directing their efforts at pursuing Museveni’s political opponents rather than fighting crime, for which conviction rates are low. – Reuters