Overview
In December 2025, Burkina Faso’s military-led Council of Ministers adopted a draft bill to overhaul the penal code and restore the death penalty for crimes such as high treason, terrorism and espionage, reversing its 2018 abolition. Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala framed the bill as part of broader sectoral reforms to create a justice system that reflects the ‘deep aspirations’ of the Burkinabè people. The proposal comes after nearly four decades without executions and seven years after parliament had struck capital punishment from the penal code. The bill must still be approved by the Transitional Legislative Assembly and pass constitutional review before it can enter into force.
The reinstatement push is unfolding amid a wider authoritarian turn under Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s junta: elections postponed to as late as 2029, dissolution of the independent electoral commission, exit from ECOWAS, criminalization of same-sex relations, conscription of critics into the army and a sustained clampdown on domestic and foreign media. Rights groups, led by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, warn that reviving capital punishment in this context risks turning it into a tool of repression against perceived enemies of the state as the country battles jihadist insurgencies and deep social strain. This story arc tracks the attempt to restore the death penalty as a flagship measure within a broader project of coercive state-building by Burkina Faso’s military government.
Key Indicators
People Involved
Organizations Involved
The transitional government is a military-led authority established after two coups in 2022 and currently ruling Burkina Faso under an extended transition charter.
The Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) is the appointed legislative body established under Burkina Faso’s transition charter to replace the dissolved parliament.
Amnesty International is a global human rights organization that monitors and advocates on issues including the death penalty, fair trials, and freedoms of expression, association and identity.
Human Rights Watch is an international NGO that investigates and reports on human rights abuses worldwide, including in conflict-affected and authoritarian contexts.
Timeline
-
International media highlight link between death penalty bill and broader crackdown
AnalysisGlobal coverage by wire services and regional outlets emphasizes that Burkina Faso’s move to restore the death penalty is occurring alongside delayed elections, dissolution of the electoral commission, media suspensions, criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and the use of emergency powers to silence dissent.
-
Rights groups condemn Burkina Faso’s death penalty reinstatement plan
Civil Society ResponseAmnesty International and other human rights advocates issue strong statements opposing the draft penal code, describing it as a grave setback and urging the Transitional Legislative Assembly to reject any reintroduction of capital punishment.
-
Council of Ministers adopts bill to restore death penalty
LegislationBurkina Faso’s Council of Ministers adopts a draft bill for a new penal code that reinstates the death penalty for offences including high treason, terrorism and espionage. Justice Minister Bayala presents the bill as part of comprehensive reforms to make justice reflect citizens’ aspirations. The bill also reportedly introduces community service as a principal sentence and sanctions the promotion and practice of homosexual acts.
-
New Family and Persons Code criminalizes same-sex relations
LegislationThe Transitional Legislative Assembly unanimously adopts a Family and Persons Code that criminalizes consensual same-sex relations and ‘behavior likely to promote homosexual practices,’ punishable by prison terms and heavy fines. Amnesty International and other groups warn that the law violates equality and privacy rights.
-
Government moves to dissolve Independent National Electoral Commission
Institutional ChangeThe Council of Ministers adopts a bill to dissolve the Independent National Electoral Commission, transferring election organization back to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Officials cite cost-saving and sovereignty; critics see an attempt to politicize election management.
-
Journalists arrested and disappeared amid media clampdown
RepressionSecurity agents arrest three journalists, including the president and vice president of the national journalists’ association, after they denounce media restrictions. Their whereabouts remain unknown, raising fears of enforced disappearance.
-
ECOWAS confirms formal exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger
Regional AlignmentThe West African bloc ECOWAS announces that three junta-led Sahel states, including Burkina Faso, have formally left the organization, deepening their political and economic isolation while they pursue closer ties through the Alliance of Sahel States.
-
Government source confirms plan to reinstate death penalty
Policy SignalReporting by international media cites a government source indicating that Burkina Faso’s military regime is preparing amendments to the criminal code that would bring back capital punishment, abolished in 2018, and that Justice Minister Bayala supports the move.
-
Magistrates conscripted into army amid accusations of dissent
RepressionMagistrates’ unions report that at least six judges and prosecutors have been forcibly conscripted into the military for actions perceived as opposing the junta, including investigations into abuses and cases involving junta supporters.
-
Burkina Faso suspends BBC and VOA over coverage of alleged army massacre
Media CrackdownThe communications regulator suspends BBC Africa and Voice of America radio broadcasts for two weeks and blocks their websites after they report on a Human Rights Watch investigation alleging that Burkinabè forces executed more than 200 civilians during counterinsurgency operations.
-
Alliance of Sahel States mutual defense pact signed
Regional AlignmentBurkina Faso, Mali and Niger sign the Liptako-Gourma Charter to create the Alliance of Sahel States, a mutual defense pact that later evolves into a confederation. The three juntas position themselves as an alternative bloc to ECOWAS.
-
Second coup brings Captain Ibrahim Traoré to power
CoupDissatisfied officers remove Damiba in Burkina Faso’s second coup of 2022; Captain Ibrahim Traoré emerges as the new leader and is later confirmed as head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces.
-
First 2022 coup ousts President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré
CoupSoldiers led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba depose President Kaboré, dissolve parliament and suspend the constitution, citing the government’s failure to contain jihadist violence. A military junta is installed.
-
Parliament abolishes the death penalty in Burkina Faso’s penal code
LegislationThe National Assembly adopts a revised penal code that removes the death penalty as a sentencing option for all crimes, effectively abolishing capital punishment in law. Rights groups hail the move as a milestone for West Africa.
-
Last known executions carried out in Burkina Faso
Historical PrecedentBurkina Faso’s last recorded executions take place in the late 1980s, reportedly in connection with coup-related offences, after which the country becomes de facto abolitionist for several decades.
Scenarios
Death Penalty Reinstated and Gradually Applied in Security and Political Cases
Discussed by: Rights groups’ warnings and regional experience with military regimes in the Sahel and beyond
In this scenario, the Transitional Legislative Assembly approves the draft penal code substantially as proposed, and constitutional review bodies do not block the reintroduction of capital punishment. Initially, death sentences may be handed down in high-profile terrorism and treason cases, with authorities framing them as responses to grave security threats. Over time, however, the vague boundaries between ‘terrorism,’ ‘espionage’ and political dissent, combined with the junta’s record of using conscription and emergency laws against journalists, magistrates and activists, could lead to the death penalty being used or threatened in politicized prosecutions. Actual executions may remain rare, but the credible threat of capital punishment becomes an instrument of intimidation.
Symbolic Restoration with a De Facto Moratorium on Executions
Discussed by: Some legal analysts and historical patterns in partially abolitionist states
Here, the death penalty is restored in law but not used in practice, echoing Burkina Faso’s pre-2018 status as a de facto abolitionist state. Courts may issue death sentences in rare, emblematic cases but commutations, presidential pardons or prolonged non-enforcement keep executions from occurring. The junta uses the law’s existence for signaling toughness on crime and terrorism—especially to domestic audiences outraged by jihadist violence—without crossing the politically and diplomatically costly threshold of carrying out executions. International criticism continues but may be somewhat muted if no executions occur, while domestic repression persists through nonlethal but severe penalties such as long prison terms, forced conscription and broad security charges.
Institutional or International Pushback Moderates or Blocks Reinstatement
Discussed by: Human rights organizations, some regional legal experts and international partners
In this outcome, domestic and international pressure—led by actors such as Amnesty International, local bar associations and external partners concerned about human rights—compels the Transitional Legislative Assembly to amend or shelve the most controversial provisions of the draft penal code. The Constitutional Council or other judicial bodies could also find aspects of the law incompatible with constitutional protections or Burkina Faso’s treaty obligations, limiting its scope or effectively preventing executions. Even if capital punishment is formally reinstated, court decisions might narrow applicable offences or strengthen procedural safeguards, making actual application extremely difficult. This scenario would hinge on residual institutional independence and the junta’s desire to avoid further isolation at a time when it has already broken with ECOWAS and faces scrutiny over media repression and conscription abuses.
Deepening Authoritarianism: Expanded Capital Offences and Coordinated AES Hardline
Discussed by: Regional observers of the Alliance of Sahel States and trends in anti-LGBTQ+ and security legislation
Beyond simply reinstating the death penalty for treason, terrorism and espionage, the junta could expand capital offences in future amendments, potentially linking them to broadly defined threats such as ‘subversion,’ ‘support for terrorism’ or aggravated acts under newly restrictive social laws. Given parallel developments in fellow AES member Mali and broader African trends like Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, the AES bloc might further coordinate hardline positions that include death-eligible offences for certain sexual or political conduct, portraying these as defenses of sovereignty and cultural values. This would deepen regional divergence from international human rights norms and could invite targeted sanctions, aid suspensions or legal challenges in regional human rights bodies.
Long-Term Re-Abolition under a Future Civilian Government
Discussed by: Advocacy groups and some political commentators projecting post-junta trajectories
In a more distant scenario, political change in Burkina Faso—whether through negotiated transition, internal regime evolution or post-crisis elections—could lead a future civilian government to once again abolish the death penalty, restoring the 2018 stance. Such an outcome would likely follow sustained advocacy by domestic and international civil society and could be encouraged by regional developments if more African states move toward abolition. However, given the junta’s extended transition timetable to 2029 and entrenched security challenges, any re-abolition is unlikely in the short term and would depend on both political will and a reevaluation of punitive security approaches.
Historical Context
Burkina Faso’s 2018 Abolition of the Death Penalty
2018What Happened
In May 2018, Burkina Faso’s National Assembly adopted a new penal code that removed the death penalty as a lawful sanction for all crimes. Rights organizations noted that the country had not carried out any executions since the late 1980s, and the reform was seen as consolidating a long-standing de facto moratorium into de jure abolition. Amnesty International hailed the move as a hard-won victory and urged the government to ratify international treaties on abolition.
Outcome
Short term: Burkina Faso joined a growing group of African states that had abolished capital punishment, receiving international praise and improving its human-rights profile.
Long term: The country did not follow through by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, leaving a legal path open for future governments to reinstate capital punishment, as the current junta is now attempting.
Why It's Relevant
The 2018 abolition underscores how quickly gains can be reversed when political conditions change and highlights the importance of international treaty commitments: had Burkina Faso locked in abolition via binding protocols, reinstatement would be legally more difficult and politically costlier.
Nigeria’s Execution of the Ogoni Nine under Military Rule
1995 and aftermathWhat Happened
In November 1995, Nigeria’s military regime under General Sani Abacha executed nine environmental and human-rights activists from the Ogoni community, including writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, after a widely criticized trial on charges related to the killing of local chiefs. The convictions and hangings drew global condemnation as politically motivated and lacking credible evidence. Decades later, Nigeria’s civilian government posthumously pardoned the ‘Ogoni Nine,’ a move that rights groups criticized for implying guilt rather than fully exonerating them.
Outcome
Short term: The executions intensified Nigeria’s international isolation, led to sanctions and severely tarnished the regime’s legitimacy, while failing to quell environmental protests or broader dissent.
Long term: The case became emblematic of how military governments can misuse the death penalty against peaceful activists. Continued advocacy helped entrench the view that the Ogoni Nine were wrongfully executed, and the episode remains a cautionary tale about the politicization of capital punishment.
Why It's Relevant
Nigeria’s experience illustrates how capital punishment in authoritarian or transitional contexts can be deployed against perceived enemies of the state rather than only for core violent offences. For Burkina Faso, where critics of the junta already face conscription, detention and enforced disappearance, the Ogoni precedent underlines the risk that expanded capital offences might one day be applied to activists, journalists or opposition figures.
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act and the Use of Death Penalty in Social Control
2023–2024What Happened
Uganda’s parliament passed, and President Yoweri Museveni signed, the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, introducing the offence of ‘aggravated homosexuality’ punishable by death and imposing severe penalties for the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality. In April 2024, Uganda’s Constitutional Court largely upheld the law, striking down only some provisions related to housing and mandatory reporting but leaving intact the core criminalization and death-eligible offences. The law sparked intense international backlash, including aid suspensions and sanctions, and was denounced by human rights organizations as one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ statutes.
Outcome
Short term: Uganda experienced a surge in abuses against LGBTQ+ people, including arbitrary arrests, evictions and violence, while the government embraced the law as a defense of cultural values and sovereignty despite economic and diplomatic costs.
Long term: The law remains in force, showing that even sustained international pressure may not quickly overturn deeply entrenched punitive social legislation, though it has influenced donors and multilateral institutions to attach greater safeguards to their engagement.
Why It's Relevant
Uganda’s case offers a parallel for Burkina Faso’s simultaneous criminalization of same-sex relations and move to restore the death penalty: both frame harsh laws as expressions of popular will and cultural authenticity while embedding capital punishment in a broader project of social and political control. It suggests that once such frameworks are enacted, reversing them can be slow and politically fraught even under significant external pressure.