The United Nations on Thursday welcomed Zimbabwe's abolition of the death penalty and called on other countries to do likewise or to at least impose a moratorium on capital punishment.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday signed into law an act that will commute to jail time the sentences of about 60 prisoners on death row.
There has been a moratorium on executions since 2005, although courts have continued to hand down the death sentence for crimes including murder, treason and terrorism.
"I welcome the signing by the president of Zimbabwe of a law officially abolishing the death penalty in the country," UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
"The death penalty is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity and the fundamental right to life.
"All states that still maintain the death penalty should follow Zimbabwe's example and abolish it, or pending its abolition, impose a moratorium on its use."
Zimbabwe's Death Penalty Abolition Act says courts can no longer deliver a sentence of capital punishment, and any existing death sentences must be commuted to prison time.
However, one provision says the abolition of the death penalty may be lifted during a state of emergency.
Turk said: "I call on the government of Zimbabwe to take a further step on this commendable path by removing the provision allowing for reinstatement of the penalty during states of public emergency."
Mnangagwa has been a vocal opponent of capital punishment since he was sentenced to death in the 1960s for blowing up a train during the guerrilla war for independence. The sentence was later commuted.
© Agence France-Presse
