Burkina Faso’s unelected parliament has unanimously approved a new penal code that brings back the death penalty for crimes including high treason, terrorism, espionage, parricide and the importation of expired or prohibited products. Capital punishment for ordinary crimes was abolished in 2018.
Human Rights Watch said the move could further erode civil liberties under the military junta that seized power in a 2022 coup. Since taking control, the authorities have restricted media organisations, suspended civil society groups and unions, and pursued critics through arrests and enforced disappearances.
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The government says restoring the death penalty will strengthen the fight against terrorism. Rights advocates, however, warn that shortcomings in the justice system raise the danger of wrongful convictions and irreversible miscarriages of justice.
