El Salvador approves life sentence for minors convicted of murder, rape

El Salvador approved a bill on Thursday allowing courts to sentence minors to life in prison for rape, murder or terrorism, the latest push in President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gangs.

Bukele, who has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” has filled El Salvador’s prisons with thousands of suspected gang members in a sweep that has raised allegations of major human rights abuses.

The Latin American country passed a constitutional reform earlier this month to allow life imprisonment for “murderers, rapists and terrorists.” The maximum prison term was previously 60 years.

Bukele had pushed to extend the new law to children under 18, regardless of whether they belong to gangs.

“We have given Salvadoran families the reassurance that none of these criminals will ever see the light of day again,” assembly president Ernesto Castro, a member of the ruling party, said.

Bukele rules under a 2022 state of emergency, which has seen more than 90,000 people arrested, often without warrants and accused of gang affiliation.

Around 8,000 were released after being found innocent.

An especially contested policy allows anyone accused of gang affiliation to be sent to prisons for adults.

The crackdown has slashed homicide rates to historic lows, but prompted accusations of human rights violations.

Francisco Lira, a deputy from the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance known as Arena, said that “thousands” of Salvadorans are still “waiting for a fair trial” and lamented that “good people are paying for something they did not do.”

Ahead of the ratification, Lira held up a sign on the floor of the assembly that read: “In favour of the penalty, but without twisting the Constitution.”

AFP