EU deplores execution of 28 prisoners

The European Union on Tuesday said it "deeply regrets" last Thursday's hanging of 28 convicted criminals in Luzira prison, Kampala, and that the death penalty risked increasing the level of violence in society. An EU presidency statement said that while it supported Uganda's fight against crime and terrorism, it "did not recognise the effectiveness of capital punishment as a way to prevent crime" and regretted that its efforts to have the death sentences commuted went unheeded. The semi-official 'New Vision' newspaper on Tuesday said Assistant Prison Commissioner Jack Wycliffe Kururagyire's denied reports that the prisoners were brutally executed or that some were hammered to death. He said the convicts died instantly by hanging and were given a "fairly decent burial", the newspaper reported.