DPP loses attempt to halt 98 death penalty petitions

Some of the death row convicts at the High Court in Mombasa on Tuesday. (Kelvin Karani, Standard)

The High Court has dismissed an attempt by the Director of Public Prosecutions to stop a petition by 98 death row inmates seeking to be freed. The inmates argue that they were convicted on the basis of a faulty law.

The petition follows a Supreme Court judgement last year that declared the Penal Code, on which basis capital offenders are condemned to death, is partially unconstitutional.