In response to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision this afternoon to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment, Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes said:

“The decision to commute death sentences brings Kenya closer to the growing community of nations that have abolished this cruel and inhuman form of punishment. It must now be abolished for posterity.”

The president’s decision means that the 2,747 prisoners currently on death row in Kenya will now serve life sentences.