Amnesty says Botswana executed 1 criminal in 2016

JOHANNESBURG – Amnesty International says Botswana was the only country in southern African to execute a criminal last year.

The rights group, which opposes the death penalty, said in a global report Tuesday that the single execution in Botswana was the country's first since 2013.

Patrick Gabaakanye, 65, was hanged in May for the 2010 axe murder of an elderly man, according to media in Botswana.

Amnesty says another 283 people across southern Africa faced the death sentence at the end of 2016, including 157 in Zambia and 97 in Zimbabwe.

The report says Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe were the only southern African nations that sentenced criminals to death last year - a total of 110, most of whom were in Zambia.