Chad: Amnesty International welcomes abolition of death penalty for acts of terrorism

02 Mai 2020

Paris, France, May 2  (Infosplusgabon) - Amnesty International Saturday welcomed the decision by the Chadian authorities to abolish the death penalty for terrorist acts, official sources said here.

“It is encouraging to note that the Chadian authorities, despite the difficult security context linked to the attacks by the armed group Boko Haram, have respected their commitments by implementing the recommendations accepted by their peers aiming at the complete abolition of the death penalty," said AI.

It stressed that this was a strong and positive signal in the area of ​​human rights, adding that this decision was in addition to the abolition already recorded in 2017 for all other crimes.

Amnesty International recommended that this decision paved the way for the commutation of all execution sentences and the ratification of the second optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

The Chadian parliament, it is recalled, voted unanimously last Tuesday to abolish the death penalty for terrorist acts.

This followed recommendations accepted during its 2013 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) while the Chadian Penal Code was revised in 2017 abolishing the death penalty, excluding cases of "terrorism".

Before the adoption of this law, 10 alleged members of the armed group - Boko Haram - had been sentenced to death on August 28, 2015, during a trial held in camera and shot the next day.

In August 2018, four people were sentenced to death for the murder of a shopkeeper.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/UIO/GABON2020

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