Algeria lower house approves death penalty for arsonists after deadly wildfires
The National People's Assembly voted to amend the penal code to allow capital punishment for arson, despite a moratorium in place since 1993 and warnings from Amnesty International.
Algeria’s lower house has voted to allow the death penalty for those convicted of arson, after deadly wildfires swept through the country’s forests this year.
Members of the National People’s Assembly voted on Thursday to amend the country’s penal code to permit capital punishment for “anyone who attempts to undermine public security and order, national unity or economic and environmental stability”, according to Algerian media.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for the amendment in September after at least 12 people died in wildfires in Algeria’s northeast. Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa defended the change, saying: “The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes.”
Algeria has upheld a long-term moratorium on capital punishment since the last execution in 1993, though death sentences have continued to be handed down, including in terror-related cases. Tebboune has said those sentences would be carried out once appeals were exhausted.
Human rights organisations urged parliament not to adopt the law last month and accused the government of using the code as a pretext to apply capital punishment against political opposition groups. Amnesty International called the move “a deeply retrograde response”, saying authorities should instead “focus on protecting lives, strengthening prevention and emergency response” against recurring wildfires.
The law now goes to the upper house, the Council of the Nation, before ratification by Tebboune.
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