Death sentence may apply not just to homicide but also non-violent crimes including incest, blasphemy, kidnapping of a betrothed girl or widow, and stealing animals like livestock.
The committee also expressed its concern to human rights violations in Somali Region and calls for the government of Ethiopia to take action towards anti-terrorism legislation.
[5][14] In 2019 Universal Periodic Review, Ethiopia received 15 recommendations to use the Second Optional Protocol or adopt as de facto memorandum on the death penalty.
Fetha Negest provided:[17] They shall be put (to death) in the place they sinned, so that they may serve as a lesson to others who desire to be (involved) in this deed, and so that the relatives of the person murdered may be pleased.
Referring to argument for retention of capital punishment, in the 1957 draft Penal Code, Jean Graven wrote:[18] It is not only necessary for social protection; it is based on the very deepest feelings of the Ethiopian people for justice and atonement.
[17] In June 2011, president Girma Wolde-Giyogis announced at the National Palace that the death penalty sentences for 23 senior Derg officials were commuted to life imprisonment.