Capital punishment returns to the penal code
Burkina Faso’s unelected legislature unanimously adopted a new penal code restoring the death penalty for offences including terrorism, high treason, espionage and parricide. State news agency AIB also identified fatal fraud involving prohibited or expired products among the capital offences. Burkina Faso abolished capital punishment for ordinary crimes in 2018; its last known judicial execution was in 1988. (aib.media)
Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala defended restoration as necessary against terrorism. According to Human Rights Watch’s account of his explanation, armed groups had used the absence of capital punishment to reassure prospective recruits that conviction would expose them only to life imprisonment. (hrw.org)
Additional restrictions attract scrutiny
Reporting published on October 22 also highlighted provisions prohibiting funeral ceremonies for executed prisoners, with prison terms and fines for violations. These details were reported from the newly adopted code; the reviewed material did not establish a first execution or an implementation timetable. (seneweb.com)
Human Rights Watch argued that restoration must be assessed against the military authorities’ wider suppression of political and civic freedoms. That is the organisation’s assessment; the government presents the measure as a counterterrorism response. (hrw.org)