The Chadian National Assembly voted on Tuesday to abolish the death penalty, which had been authorized until now for terrorist acts, in this Sahelian country under the threat of jihadist groups who are increasing the attacks on its western flank.
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"MPs voted unanimously to abolish the death penalty for acts of terrorism," said Minister Djimet Arabi, the originator of this bill. Presented in the Council of Ministers six months ago, this modification of the so-called “anti-terrorist” law was then submitted to the Assembly which adopted it on Tuesday. President Idriss Déby Itno, who has yet to promulgate the measure for its entry into force, has an overwhelming majority in the Assembly. In 2016, Chad adopted a reform of the Penal Code, repealing the death penalty, except for those convicted of terrorist acts.
The measure voted Tuesday aims to "harmonize our anti-terrorism legislation with those of all the G5 Sahel countries that do not provide for the death penalty for acts of terrorism," said the Minister of Justice. He was referring to the G5 Sahel, a regional organization grouping Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Among these countries, only Burkina Faso has abrogated the death penalty. It is still enshrined in the law of other countries, even if it has not been applied for years.
Last execution in 2015
In Chad, the last execution of prisoners sentenced to capital punishment dates back to August 2015. Ten suspected members of the jihadist group Boko Haram tried for their responsibility in a double suicide attack in the Chadian capital had been shot. Almost two years ago, in August 2018, four men were sentenced to death by the justice system for the murder of a Chinese merchant in N'Djamena. The execution did not take place.
"We welcome this decision to abolish the death penalty by the Chadian legislator , " Jean Bosco Manga, founder of the Citizen Movement for the Preservation of Liberties in Chad, told AFP. "The logic of killing a man to punish him for taking the life of another himself is absurd," he added.
A huge country stretching from central Africa to the Sahelo-Saharan strip, Chad has been under threat from jihadist groups since 2014. In the western province of Lac, their combatants are increasing the number of deadly attacks against civilians and soldiers. A month ago, a hundred Chadian soldiers were killed in an attack by the Boko Haram group, the worst defeat ever inflicted on the Chadian army, reputed to be very effective, in less than 24 hours.
Prisoners found dead in their cells
President Déby Itno then launched a vast military offensive in retaliation, in depth in Niger and Nigeria according to him, and assured, at its end, that there was "no longer a single jihadist on the whole of the island area 'of the lake. A thousand "terrorists" and 52 Chadian soldiers had been killed, according to N'Djamena. At the end of this operation, 58 alleged members of Boko Haram were taken prisoner and transferred on April 14 to a prison in N'Djamena, to be interviewed there, and then tried by a criminal court. But three days later, 44 of them were found dead in their cells. According to the results of an autopsy, the prisoners died after having ingested a toxic substance of unknown origin, the public prosecutor then announced.
Civil society associations and a security source told AFP their jailers had ill-treated the detainees, including locking them up in a tiny cell without food or water for three days. These allegations have been formally denied by the government. The regime of Idriss Déby Itno, who came to power by arms 29 years ago, is regularly blacklisted by human rights NGOs.
