Chad Abrogates Law Prescribing Death Penalty For Terrorists

Chad says it has revoked the legislation that stipulated a death penalty for  terrorism-related crimes in the country.

The country’s parliament announced this on Tuesday.

The revocation of the law is coming five years after its promulgation.

The new law would replace the July 3, 2015 legislation which made acts of terrorism punishable by death.

 

The death penalty was reintroduced for terror crimes – after the government said it be would be abolished in 2014.

The government said its decision to reintroduce the was necessitated by incessant attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents group in the capital of N’Djamena, which left 67 dead, including 10 suicide bombers, and 182 injured.

 

At the time, civil and human rights groups were opposed to the move, concerned that it could be used to violate rights

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In 2018, after four prisoners were sentenced to death in Chad, the European Union called on the government to join the majority of African Union states that had abolished the death penalty.

 

Boko Haram, meanwhile, continues to pose a threat to communities in Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

 

Since 2009, tens of thousands of people have died at the hands of the Sunni fundamentalists in the region and an estimated 2.5 million people have fled their homes.

NAN