The High Court in Murang’a has ruled that life imprisonment is unconstitutional, deeming it unreasonable and absurd.
Justice Nixon Sifuna, in delivering the judgment, likened life imprisonment to a death sentence, asserting that while one is terminal and the other is not, both represent severe and permanent outcomes.
According to Justice Sifuna, life imprisonment effectively “permanently” removes a convict from society, thereby violating their right to human dignity as enshrined in Article 28 of the Kenyan Constitution of 2010.
“It is also an indignifying sentence, hence violates the right to human dignity, guaranteed under Article 28 of the Kenya Constitution 2010. It is therefore unsupportable irrespective of the logic or whatsoever rationalisation of aggravating factors that may be advanced in support,” Sifuna ruled.
