Zimbabwe frees prisoners, including those sentenced to death, in an independence day amnesty

By FARAI MUTSAKA
Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has granted clemency to more than 4,000 prisoners in an independence day amnesty. The amnesty coincided with the country’s 44th anniversary of independence from white minority rule on Thursday. It included some prisoners who were on death row. Some of those being released include female prisoners, juvenile offenders, older people and inmates who had been on the death row but had their sentences commuted to life in prison in previous presidential clemencies. The prisoners are being released in batches across the country. Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 following a bloody bush war.