Update: 25 July 2016

Hello and greetings from the warm heart of Africa!

The past five months here have flown by and I am really pleased to be able to let you all know how well things are going on the project in Malawi.

Since I arrived in February, I have been working really hard with the Malawi Human Rights Commission and other partners to prepare for the remaining sentence rehearings. Together with local lawyers and paralegals I have been interviewing prisoners, conducting investigations in their home villages and preparing court documents, amongst many other things. It’s challenging and stressful work, but the results have been overwhelming.

Since February, another 31 men and women have been released  through the project. They are people like Clifford, Harrison and White (see pictures above), who spent decades in prison before their mandatory death penalty was overturned and they were given a sentence resulting in their immediate release. The project has given them and their fellow inmates a new chance at life. They are returning home to their loved ones, getting jobs and becoming productive members of society again. And all of that has been possible because of the kindness of people like you.

However, as great as these results are, we’re not there yet. There are about 70 cases still to go – 70 men and women waiting for the day they will be given a fairer sentence, and perhaps a chance to be reunited
with their families again.

The project is scheduled to end in April 2017, so we have a lot to do still. Will you help me? Any money you donate will go directly and only towards basic living expenses and project costs.

Thank you so very much,

Zorah

Update: 22 December 2016

Hello,

My name is Zorah and I am giving up my job with an organisation I love to move to Malawi to help for free 110 prisoners who have been sentenced to death get a re-sentence hearing. Will you help me achieve that goal?

I’ll be working on these cases with the Malawian Human Rights Commission, local lawyers and paralegals. I will be going to prison to conduct interviews with the prisoners we’re trying to help, travelling all over the country to properly investigate their cases, and helping to draft court documents for their hearings, amongst many other things. It’s difficult work and there’s a lot to do.

The man with the amazing smile in the photo above is called Mtilosera. He was sentenced to death in 1993 because he had hit a man with a piece of wood in self-defence after the man had attacked his sister. There is evidence that Mtilosera was just sixteen at the time, only a child. Up until recently everyone convicted of murder automatically received the death penalty, whatever the circumstances. In 2007 the High Court of Malawi ruled that unconstitutional, and ordered that every prisoner who had been sentenced to death that way should be brought back to the court for a full sentence rehearing. By the time of his hearing in November 2015, Mtilosera had spent 22 years in prison. He was resentenced to 20 years, which meant that he was immediately released. The project team brought Mtilosera back to his village, where his family and neighbours ran through the fields to greet him, nearly knocking him over with hugs.

The Kafantayeni Resentencing Project that I’ll be working on has ensured the immediate release of 51 prisoners in 2015 alone, all of whom had previously been sentenced to death by hanging. 51 men and women who, like Mtilosera, are now rebuilding their lives, spending time with family and loved ones and being productive members of society.

It’s a hugely successful project, but there are 110 people still left in prison who need urgent help. Their cases need to be re-investigated and they should be given the best legal representation available.

This February, I am giving up my job and leaving my home to work on this project for free as a Reprieve Fellow*, because I know how much difference it will make. It’s a project I believe in, and I’m willing to risk all I’ve got to support it.

Will you help me achieve that goal? Any money that you donate will go directly and only towards basic living expenses and project costs.

Thank you so very much,

Zorah

[ * The Kafatayeni Resentencing Project advances several of Reprieve’s charitable objectives, including to promote human rights throughout the world with a focus on the use of the death penalty in contravention of article 3, the right to life, liberty and security of person, and articles 5-11, the related rights to equal treatment, a fair trial and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment. ]

[For my international friends without credit cards: any donations made to my personal bank account will be registered under 'offline donations'. Details: ZM Blok, IBAN: NL11INGB0008099225, BIC: INGBNL2A). Thank you!]