Oct 21 (Reuters) – Burkina Faso’s parliament adopted a revised penal code on Tuesday that restores the death penalty, nearly a decade after the West African country abolished capital punishment, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
• The revised penal code reintroduces the death penalty for crimes including terrorism, espionage, treason and importing expired or banned products that result in death, state-run media reported
• The 71-member assembly voted unanimously for the legislation after Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala presented the bill on behalf of the government, the ministry said in a statement
• Burkina Faso has struggled for years to contain an Islamist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions
• The government has presented the change as part of its response to that insurgency, putting it at odds with rights groups that say it could be used against critics
• Bayala said the relative lenience of the previous penal code helped armed groups recruit members
• Human Rights Watch said when the Council of Ministers first approved the bill last year that reinstating the death penalty could deepen repression, entrench a climate of fear and send a chilling message to critics of the military government
• Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty in 2018. Its last known judicial execution was in 1988, according to Amnesty International
(Reporting by Dakar Newsroom; Writing by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Ayen Deng Bior and Xevi Fontdegloria)
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