Burkina Faso Government has reinstated the death penalty, the justice ministry announced on Tuesday, after the country’s legislature voted unanimously in favour of the measure.
The new penal code reverses a 2018 ban on capital punishment. The ministry said the change “aims to strengthen public order, consolidate the nation’s fundamental values and guarantee security for people and property”.
Burkina Faso has been under military rule since a 2022 coup. Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore first signalled his intention to bring back the death penalty last year.
According to state news agency AIB, offences now punishable by death include acts of terrorism, espionage, treason, patricide, and the importation of expired or banned products that result in death.
Amnesty International noted that the last recorded execution in Burkina Faso took place in 1988 and had previously urged the authorities not to reinstate capital punishment.
