The Algerian Parliament Considers Expanding the Death Penalty to Include Arson

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Members of the Algerian National People's Assembly will vote today, Thursday, on a draft amendment to the Penal Code to expand the scope of the death penalty to include those who commit arson in forests, a measure supported by the Algerian president following deadly fires that occurred in the country last summer.

The text of the amendment notes the expansion of the crimes punishable by death to also include child abduction.

According to the explanations provided by Justice Minister Lotfi Boujemaa before the deputies on Monday, the amendment to the Penal Code concerns two articles, with "the penalty for arson in fields and forests raised from 20 years to death," as well as the "crime of child abduction," where the penalty has shifted from life imprisonment to death.

Regarding child abduction, the project includes amendments to Article 291, proposing the death penalty in specific cases of child abduction, torture, sexual assault, or maltreatment, according to the conditions specified in the text.

The minister reminded that the death penalty has been stipulated in the penal code since 1966 for arson leading to death and the kidnapping of children "if it is accompanied by violence or a ransom demand or leads to the child's death," according to the current penal code.

The Algerian judiciary has issued death sentences in cases related to terrorism and premeditated murder, without executing the penalty since 1993.

However, in late August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the Minister of Justice to amend the penal code to impose the death penalty on individuals who start forest fires, and for the sentence to be carried out immediately after they exhaust their right to appeal "so that society can take its right from them."

The decision came after Algeria faced a wave of deadly fires that swept through the northeast of the country, resulting in the deaths of 12 people, according to official figures, while witnesses reported dozens of fatalities.

Amnesty International urged Algeria to "immediately abandon any plans to expand the death penalty or resume executions after more than three decades of suspension."

It also called for "the formal adoption of a moratorium on the implementation of death sentences as a first step towards the complete abolition of the penalty."

The Minister of Justice confirmed that Algerian law provides "greater guarantees" when it comes to felonies, such as "the requirement for a lawyer to be present at all stages of the investigation and on the day of the trial. Additionally, all decisions are subject to appeal."

He added that "the death penalty is only carried out after a request for pardon has been rejected" by the President of the Republic.

He attributed the tightening of penalties to the fact that "arson has reached the level of organized crime." Investigations have also shown "collaboration between criminals and foreign entities, which amounts to treason and undermining the sanctity of national territory," according to the minister.

Northern Algeria usually witnesses forest fires during the summer, but climate change exacerbates their effects by causing recurring droughts and extreme heat.

More than 30 people died in July 2023 when fires swept through thousands of hectares of forests and agricultural land, as well as hundreds of homes, in the Bejaia region and its surroundings.

In 2023, Algeria issued death sentences for more than 50 people from the Tizi Ouzou region, some of them in absentia, following the murder of a 38-year-old activist and the mutilation of his body after he was wrongly accused by local residents of starting forest fires.

After the National People's Assembly voted on the amendment to the Penal Code, the text moves to the Council of the Nation, the second chamber of Parliament, for discussion and voting before it is signed by the President of the Republic and published in the official gazette to come into effect.