Death penalty bill for forest arsonists clears Algeria lower house

Human rights organisations accused Algiers of using the law to target political opposition groups.

The Algerian lower house has adopted a law that would allow the death penalty for those convicted of arson, after deadly wildfires have swept through the country’s forests.

Members of the National People’s Assembly (APN) in parliament voted Thursday to amend the country’s penal code to allow the 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.

The North African country has upheld a long-term moratorium on capital punishment since the last case in 1993.

Human rights organisations, however, urged Parliament not to adopt the law in September and accused the government of using the code as an excuse to employ capital punishment against political opposition groups.

Amnesty International called the move “a deeply retrograde response”, adding that authorities should instead “focus on protecting lives, strengthening prevention and emergency response” in the face of recurring wildfires.

A coalition of other human rights groups signed a letter calling on authorities to halt any changes to the penal code and suggested that the death penalty has “never deterred arsonists from committing their crimes”.

They agreed that perpetrators must be held to account and provide restitution for the damage and loss of life.

During deadly wildfires in 2021, Algeria detained at least 30 people, including seven members of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), which authorities declared a “terrorist organisation”.

Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa defended the recent change and said, “The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes.”

Despite the moratorium, death sentences have been handed out before, including in “terror-related” cases. Tebboune said that those death sentences would be enacted once their appeals were exhausted.

The law is now set to be reviewed by the upper house, the Council of the Nation, before being officially ratified by Tebboune.