Algeria Adopts Law Imposing Death Penalty on Forest Arsonists
The measure follows deadly summer wildfires and applies to kidnappings involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation, officials said.
- On Thursday, Algerian lawmakers adopted a law imposing the death penalty on arsonists who burn "forests, woods or planted or unplanted fields" following deadly wildfires that swept through the country in recent weeks.
- President Abdelmadjid Tebboune alleged "something criminal" caused the summer blazes, which officially killed 12 people, prompting the government to pursue capital punishment for arson.
- Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament arson reached "the level of organised crime" involving "foreign parties", while the law also extends capital punishment to anyone who "kidnaps a child by any means, tortures them, sexually assaults them and/or mutilates them".
- Amnesty International criticized the move as "a deeply retrograde response", urging Algeria to refrain from resuming executions and instead "focus on protecting lives, strengthening prevention and emergency response".
- The legislation now awaits Senate review and ratification by Tebboune before taking effect, though Algeria has upheld a death penalty moratorium for decades despite continuing to sentence individuals in terror cases.
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The National People's Assembly voted to extend the death penalty for incendiary and kidnappers of children, despite the moratorium on executions in force since 1993 MPs
Algeria’s lower house of parliament approved a bill Thursday amending the penal code to introduce the death penalty for those convicted of deliberately setting fires and kidnapping children.
The lower house of the Algerian Parliament had approved the imposition of the death penalty for deliberate burning of forests and agricultural lands, as well as for certain cases of abduction of children, and the deputies of the Algerian National People ' s Assembly had approved amendments to the Penal Code, which increased the maximum penalty for deliberate burning of fields and forests from 20 years of imprisonment to the death penalty, a…
Algeria continues to issue death sentences, especially in cases of terrorism or malicious murder, but maintains a de facto moratorium on executions since 1993.
The text, consulted by the AFP, also extends the death penalty to new cases of abductions of children accompanied by serious violence, with the authorities referring to an increase in these acts in recent years. "The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to eradicate these crimes", welcomed Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa, after the vote. Details on the counting of votes were not yet available, but the P…
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