Burkina Faso: Death penalty reinstated by 71 votes, eight years after its abolition

The People's Legislative Assembly (ALP) of Burkina Faso unanimously adopted a new penal code on 20 October 2026 in Ouagadougou, reinstating the death penalty eight years after it was removed from Burkinabe law. According to Burkina 24 and Ouestaf, 71 lawmakers were present and the text contains 933 articles.

Capital punishment may be handed down for certain acts related to terrorism, including against accomplices, for espionage and treason, for parricide, and for the importation of expired or prohibited products resulting in death, both media outlets report.

The deterrence argument

The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, defended the reform in the name of modernizing the legal framework and combating the armed groups plaguing the country. According to Ouestaf, he explained that these groups recruit by convincing recruits that they "risked little more than life in prison," and that he therefore wanted all acts related to terrorism to be punishable by death.

The adopted text is a revision of Law No. 025-2018/AN of 25 May 2018, which had abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes under the presidency of Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. The revision bill had been approved in the Council of Ministers on 4 December 2025, and the relevant parliamentary committee examined more than 700 amendments, according to Burkina 24.

What rights defenders say

Amnesty International opposed the bill as soon as it passed through the Council of Ministers: the organization argues that capital punishment has no greater deterrent effect than other penalties and fears it could be used for repressive ends, Ouestaf reports. The last recorded execution in Burkina Faso dates back to 1988, also according to Amnesty. Africanews, for its part, reports that Amnesty had called on the authorities to abandon the reinstatement.

The code is not limited to the death penalty. According to Burkina 24, certain embezzlements of public funds may be punishable by life imprisonment along with a fine equal to three times the embezzled amounts; dangerous driving behaviors become punishable by imprisonment; new offenses regulate digital uses; environmental fines increase, and the slaughter as well as the export of donkeys and horses are regulated. The government also states that the text reaffirms the criminalization of homosexuality.

The new code must still be promulgated and published to take effect, Ouestaf notes. The minister announced a translation into the country's national languages to make its contents known.