The military junta in Burkina Faso has adopted a bill restoring the death penalty nearly a decade after the West African country abolished the heinous practice. The last known judicial execution in Burkina Faso took place in 1988.
On December 4, the junta’s council of ministers approved a bill amending the penal code and reintroducing capital punishment for crimes including “high treason, terrorism and acts of espionage.” Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala had announced in November 2024 that “the issue of the death penalty … is being discussed [and] will be implemented.” The bill must still be approved by the transitional parliament.
Restoring the death penalty sends a chilling message to critics of the government. Since the September 2022 military coup, the junta led by President Ibrahim Traoré has suppressed civic space and passed laws to curb dissent. The authorities have silenced the media, the political opposition, and civil society groups, and used a draconian emergency law to arbitrarily detain, forcibly disappear, and unlawfully conscript journalists, political opponents, dissidents, and judges into the armed forces.
Burkina Faso also remains a flashpoint for violence in the Sahel region, where armed groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have waged an armed conflict against the government and committed atrocities against civilians since 2012. The junta has responded to the Islamist armed groups with abusive counterinsurgency operations and curbed fundamental rights and freedoms.
Restoring the death penalty risks institutionalizing a climate of fear and creates another tool of government repression. More than 170 countries have abolished the death penalty or maintain a moratorium on executions. The United Nations General Assembly and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights have repeatedly said that governments should establish a moratorium on the death penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offenses for which it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty.
Security challenges should never justify reintroducing irreversible punishments. Parliament should immediately reject the bill, and the junta should promote legal reforms that strengthen due process, justice, and accountability, not draconian sentences.
