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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Burkina Faso aims to reinstate death penalty, government source says

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Burkina Faso's military regime wants to reinstate the death penalty, which was abolished in the country in 2018, a government source told AFP news agency on Saturday. 

The latest execution in Burkina Faso was in 1988, according to rights group Amnesty International.

It concerned four leaders accused of an attempted coup d’état to depose president Blaise Compaoré – defence minister Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, minister of economic promotion Henri Zongo, and two unidentified men.

Reintroducing capital punishment to the penal code "is being considered. It's up to the government to discuss it, then make the proposal to the Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) for adoption," the source said, adding that the date had not been chosen.

Justice Minister Rodrigue Bayala said on Friday, after parliament passed a bill introducing community service, that "the issue of death penalty, which is being discussed, will be implemented in the draft criminal code".

Bayala also said there could be further amendments to the criminal code, "to follow the vision and the guidelines given by the head of state, Captain Ibrahim Traore", who seized power in a September 2022 coup.

In May this year, Burkina Faso’s junta announced it would extend its rule for another five years despite Traoré having pledged to restore a civilian government by 1 July.

In July it passed a bill that included plans to ban homosexuality.

Military regimes have turned the Sahel into a 'black hole' of information

Capital punishment in Africa


Amnesty International reported a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty across sub-Saharan Africa. "Recorded executions more than tripled and recorded death sentences increased significantly by percent", it said in a statement in October.

On the other hand, the rights group noted that "24 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa have abolished the death penalty for all crimes while two additional countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes only". 

"Kenya and Zimbabwe currently have bills tabled to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, while Gambia... has commenced a constitutional amendment process that will... effectively abolish the death penalty," it said.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Staff, November 10, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Burkina Faso
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