Burkina Faso parliament votes unanimously to reinstate death penalty

By Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent

Burkina Faso’s parliament has reinstated the death penalty six years after its abolition, adopting a new penal code that exposes individuals convicted of terrorism, espionage, and treason to capital punishment. All 71 members of the country’s legislature voted unanimously in favor of the measure on Tuesday.

Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala confirmed the passage of the revised penal code. The vote formally reverses the criminal justice reforms enacted in 2018 under former democratically elected President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. The nation has been governed by interim President Ibrahim Traoré since a military coup in 2022.

International human rights monitoring organizations swiftly condemned the legislative action. Human Rights Watch noted that Burkina Faso carried out its last known execution in 1988. Rights advocates warned that restoring capital punishment serves as a tool to repress political dissent rather than deter crime.

“The failure of the death penalty as a crime deterrent has been globally acknowledged and the military junta in Burkina Faso should maintain the prohibition on its use,” senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch Ilaria Allegrozzi told local media.

The legal transition began in December when the military junta’s Council of Ministers approved a bill restoring capital punishment. Minister Bayala later confirmed the measure was under active discussion and would be implemented. Organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized the development as an effort to suppress political opposition.

Broad Crackdown on Dissent and Civil Society

The reinstatement of capital punishment comes amid an expanding government crackdown on civil liberties across the West African nation. Over the past two years, the military junta has systematically dismantled political structures and targeted independent bodies.

Authorities dissolved all political parties and repealed the statutes governing their operations. Human rights defenders and journalists face arbitrary detentions. The junta suspended labor unions, banned civil society organizations, and expelled the United Nations human rights agency from the country. Rights organizations report that critics face unlawful military conscription, torture, and forced disappearances.

Escalating Security Crisis and Civilian Toll

The policy shift occurs as landlocked Burkina Faso, a nation of 23 million people, struggles against a severe security crisis. Government forces are actively battling armed insurgent groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Supporters of the junta defend the harsh penalties as an essential wartime deterrent against treason and violent extremism amid this ongoing existential security crisis.

The ongoing conflict has generated widespread allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Rights groups have documented severe abuses committed by both government troops and militants from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an al-Qaida-aligned organization. A Human Rights Watch report covering recent years revealed that state forces killed over twice as many civilians as jihadist groups did between 2023 and 2025.

“Reinstating the death penalty won’t solve the security crisis in Burkina Faso. It will only add to the already appalling toll that President Traoré’s counterterrorism campaign has exacted on the Burkinabè people since he seized power,” Allegrozzi said.

Burkina Faso’s decision highlights broader regional and global trends surrounding capital punishment. Capital punishment remains legal in more than 50 countries worldwide. The highest numbers of executions occur in nations such as China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United States. Among G7 nations, only the United States and Japan execute convicts.

Roughly half of all African countries retain capital punishment in their national laws. Countries including Nigeria, Somalia, Botswana, and Egypt regularly carry out executions. The legislative vote permanently aligns Burkina Faso’s military government with these regional retainers, cementing a sharp departure from international efforts toward global abolition.