Algeria introduces death penalty for arsonists after wildfires

Algeria has adopted a law imposing the death penalty on people convicted of arson of forests or fields after a series of deadly wildfires swept parts of the country.

Members of the national assembly voted through the bill, which also made child abduction a capital offence, on Thursday.

Capital punishment has been in the country’s penal code for some offences, but no execution has been carried out since 1993.

The official death toll from the blazes stands at 12, but independent news outlets believe the figure is much higher.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the justice ministry to introduce the changes to the criminal law after more than 100 fires in the north-east of the country during an intense heatwave in northern Africa.

Under the law anyone convicted of deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or fields could face execution.

The death penalty has also been extended to child kidnappings that involve torture, sexual assault or mutilation.

According to the AFP news agency Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament: “The adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes.”

The tougher penalties were justified because arson had reached “the level of organised crime” with investigations suggesting links to “foreign parties”, Boudjemaa said.

The upper house, Council of the Nation, will review the law before it is officially ratified by the president.

Investigative journalist Nozha Khelalef has been gathering the names of those believed to have died in the fires from death notices posted by families and information shared by some local authorities.

Her tally, listed on the independent news website Twala, external, puts the death toll at 200.

While Algeria regularly experiences forest fires in the summer, climate change has exacerbated the intensity and severity of recent wildfires in the country.