Algerian lawmakers have approved legislation that would allow the death penalty for people convicted of deliberately setting forest fires, following deadly wildfires that swept through parts of the country.
The law, adopted by parliament on Thursday, targets deliberate fires in forests, woods and cultivated or uncultivated fields.
No fewer than 12 people were officially reported killed in the latest wildfires, which affected northeastern Algeria during the summer, although witnesses have reported a higher death toll.
Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa defended the tougher punishment, saying arson had reached “the level of organised crime”.
“The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes,” Boudjemaa told parliament.
He said investigations had uncovered alleged links between some fires and “foreign parties”, describing deliberate attacks on the country’s environmental and economic assets as “a clear form of treason and an attack on the integrity of the national territory”.
The legislation would also make the death penalty applicable to child kidnappings involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation.
Under the law, anyone convicted of deliberately setting fire to “forests, woods or planted or unplanted fields” could face execution. The same punishment could apply to anyone who kidnaps a child and tortures, sexually assaults or mutilates the victim.
Algeria has maintained a moratorium on executions since 1993, although courts have continued to hand down death sentences, including in terrorism-related cases. No executions have been carried out during the moratorium.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the justice minister in August to amend the penal code and expand the offences punishable by death. He has also said death sentences could be carried out once all appeals had been exhausted.
Boudjemaa said suspects facing capital punishment would retain legal safeguards, including the right to appeal and seek a presidential pardon.
However, Amnesty International criticised the proposed law last month and urged Algeria not to resume executions. The rights organisation described the move as “a deeply retrograde response” and called instead for stronger wildfire prevention and emergency response measures.
The legislation will now be reviewed by Algeria’s Senate before it is submitted to Tebboune for final ratification.
Forest fires are common in northern Algeria during the summer, with prolonged droughts and extreme heat linked to climate change contributing to their growing intensity. Tebboune has, however, suggested that “something criminal” was behind the latest fires.
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