On this date, August 29, 2015, 10 members of
Boko Haram were executed by firing squad in
Chad, a day after being sentenced to death.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/30/chad-executes-10-members-boko-haram-firing-squad
Chad executes 10 members
of Boko Haram by firing squad
One
of those killed – Bahna Fanaye, alias Mahamat Moustapha – has been described as
a leader of the Nigeria-based terrorist group
Associated Press
Sunday 30 August 2015 00.59 BST
Mahamat Moustapha,
pictured here at his trial, has been described as a leader of Boko Haram and
was among those executed. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters
|
Chad
has executed 10 members of Boko Haram by firing squad, marking the first use of the death
penalty since the country bolstered its anti-terrorist measures last month.
The
10 men were sentenced to death on Friday after being convicted of crimes
including murder and the use of explosives. They were killed at around 11 am on
Saturday, Ahmat Mahamat Bachir, the security minister, said.
Those
killed included Bahna Fanaye, alias Mahamat Moustapha, whom Chadian officials
have described as a leader of the Nigeria-based group.
Chad
has vowed to take a leading role in a regional force to fight Boko Haram that
is also expected to include soldiers from Cameroon, Benin and Niger in addition
to Nigeria. Boko Haram
has regularly targeted Nigeria’s neighbours in attacks this year.
In
June and July, Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, was rocked by a series of suicide
attacks that killed dozens of people – the first such attacks since Boko Haram
threatened the country earlier this year.
In
one attack, suicide bombers on motorcycles targeted two buildings in the
capital. In another, a man disguised as a woman wearing a burqa detonated a
bomb outside the city’s main market.
Last
September, Chad drew
praise from rights groups for a draft penal code that abolished capital
punishment. The International Federation for Human Rights said at the time the
country had observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 1991 with the
exception of nine executions that took place in November 2003. But anti-terrorist measures approved by legislators last month in response to the recent attacks brought the death penalty back.
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