By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The influential Council of Ministers in Burkina Faso has adopted a bill seeking to restore death penalty, targeting offenses such as treason, terrorism, and espionage, authorities say.
“The adoption of this bill is part of reforms … to have a justice that responds to the deep aspirations of our people,” Minister of Justice Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said in a Facebook post late Thursday.
The bill has to be adopted by parliament and reviewed by the courts before becoming law.
The West African nation had in 2018 abolished death penalty from its constitution.
Since he came to power in 2022 through a military coup, Captain Ibrahim Traoré has launched sweeping reforms, including postponing elections that were expected to restore civilian rule and dissolving the country’s independent electoral commission.
The military-led government has been accused of silencing critical media outlets in recent years.
It suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio stations for their coverage of alleged mass killing of civilians and arrested three prominent journalists earlier this year.
The 23 million population landlocked nation is struggling with a security crisis in the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara in recent years. It has faced violence from extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Burkina Faso is one of several West African nations governed by the military, after coups in recent years.
The military had accused the previously elected civilian government of failure to deal with insecurity, a development that fuelled widespread frustration among citizens.
Despite its posture on social media as government loved by citizens of Burkina Faso, the military government has been accused of human rights abuses and the detention of journalists critical of the government.
