A new penal code restores capital punishment

Burkina Faso's transitional legislature, the Assemblée législative du peuple (ALP), unanimously approved a new penal code on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, bringing back the death penalty. The 71 members who voted are not elected, and the chamber serves as the country's parliament under a military junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The Ministry of Justice announced the vote in a Facebook post, saying the reform aims to reinforce public order and guarantee the safety of people and property.

“This legislative reform aims to strengthen public order, consolidate the fundamental values of the nation and guarantee the security of persons and property.”

Under the new code, the death penalty can be imposed for terrorism, high treason, espionage and parricide, as well as for importing expired or banned products when the import causes death. Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala explained the scope of the code in statements to the news portal Lefaso. Embezzlement is now punishable by life imprisonment, while road safety offences can be punished with prison sentences. The state news agency AIB, citing the minister, said terrorist groups had used the relative leniency of the former text as a recruitment argument.

Background to the reversal

The death penalty was abolished for all crimes at the end of May 2018 under then president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. Human Rights Watch says the most recent known executions date from 1988, a point Amnesty International also makes. The junta, which took power in a coup in late September 2022, announced in December 2025 that it would bring back capital punishment through a bill adopted by the Council of Ministers. Amnesty had urged the junta in 2025 to abandon the project. International NGOs say dozens of critical voices, along with journalists and magistrates, have been abducted, and some were forcibly conscripted to fight jihadist groups.

Traoré's warning and the homosexuality provision

Traoré addressed capital punishment at the end of September 2026 in a televised interview with the press, warning about espionage and treason.

“If we take a spy, the death penalty that is there is what will be applied. Even under cover of another country.”

He added that reactionaries inside the country acting as agents of foreign powers would be dealt with without mercy if convicted of treason. In September 2026 the transitional parliament also unanimously approved a law punishing "homosexual practices" with two to five years in prison. The text the Council of Ministers presented in 2025 also sanctions the promotion and practice of homosexuality and related activities. Homosexuality is a criminal offence in about thirty African countries.