Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of whether the death sentences given to six people in Ghana in January 2024 will be carried out; and whether he has had recent discussions with his Ghanaian counterpart on this issue.

The UK Government is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and congratulates Ghana for its recent abolition of the death penalty for ordinary crimes. We encourage Ghana to sign the second optional protocol on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which abolishes capital punishment for all crimes, including treason which relates to the recent sentencing. Ghana has not carried out an execution since 1993, but courts have continued to hand down death sentences. I [Minister Mitchell] raised the recent sentences with the Vice President and leaders of the Foreign Affairs Committee during my recent trip to Ghana.