A woman with severe intellectual disabilities in Tanzania had her death sentence quashed by a court on 4 March after spending over a decade on death row, according to The Guardian. Lemi Limbu. Now in her early 30s. Was originally convicted of the murder of her daughter in 2015, but a court in Shinyanga, northern Tanzania, ruled that she can appeal, setting the stage for a retrial. However, no date has yet been set for the retrial.

The Legal Battle and Advocacy Efforts

Limbu’s case has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations and legal advocates. Anna Henga. Executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania, stated, “She was not supposed to be in prison in the first place. I’m happy that [her conviction] has been quashed and the appeal has been allowed, but I’m sad because the court ordered a retrial, which is like starting again [after] the case has already taken more than 10 years.”

Henga expressed concern that the retrial could take another decade, given the delays and complexities of the legal system in Tanzania; Limbu, who remains incarcerated, is a survivor of repeated sexual and domestic violence and has the developmental age of a child. Under both Tanzanian and international law, she should not be held criminally liable due to her severe intellectual disability.

Limbu’s original conviction in 2015 was nullified in 2019 due to procedural errors, but she was retried in 2022 and sentenced to death a second time. During that trial, the court did not allow evidence regarding her intellectual disability or history of abuse to be presented; a clinical psychologist had evaluated her and concluded that she had a severe intellectual disability and the developmental age of a 10-year-old child or younger.

A History of Abuse and Trauma

Limbu’s life has been marked by extreme hardship. She grew up in a household where her father beat her mother. She was repeatedly raped by men in her village and gave birth for the first time at age 15. At around 18, she married an older man and had two more children. She endured domestic violence until she fled to another village with her youngest child, Tabu, who was about a year old.

She later met Kijiji Nyamabu, an alcoholic, who told her he would marry her but refused to accept her daughter, Tabu, because he was not the biological father. Shortly after, Tabu was found strangled. There were no witnesses, and Nyamabu had already fled when Limbu brought authorities to her daughter’s body. She was arrested in August 2011, and Nyamabu was never detained.

Limbu’s case has been highlighted by a coalition of 24 African and international human rights groups as part of a broader appeal to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These groups are calling attention to the plight of women on death row across Africa. In July, four UN human rights experts wrote a letter to the government of Tanzania expressing concern about Limbu’s case.

The Broader Context of the Death Penalty in Tanzania

In Tanzania, the death penalty is the mandatory sentence for murder, although no executions have been carried out since 1995. According to Henga, there are more than 500 people on death row in the country. Rose Malle, a woman who was wrongfully imprisoned on death row in Tanzania and now campaigns against capital punishment, said that many innocent people face the death penalty due to weaknesses in the justice system.

Malle explained that these weaknesses start from the stage of arrest, the investigation process, and even during the hearing of cases in court. “This situation is often caused by weaknesses within the justice system,” she said.

Prof Sandra Babcock, a clinical professor of law and the faculty director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, is acting as a legal consultant in Limbu’s case. She said, “Limbu has endured unimaginable suffering as a survivor of sexual violence living with intellectual disability. After spending more than a decade on death row, she should be released so that she can receive the care and support she needs.”

The case of Lemi Limbu has sparked renewed discussions about the treatment of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the justice system and the need for reform. As the retrial looms, advocates continue to push for her release and the recognition of her rights under both Tanzanian and international law.