Overview
- The National People’s Assembly voted to reintroduce capital punishment for deliberate fires in forests, woods or fields in a 307-17 vote on Thursday.
- The amendments also make child abduction that involves torture, sexual assault or mutilation a capital offence under the updated penal code.
- President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the change after the summer blazes and Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa described arson as organised crime with alleged foreign links and said executions would follow once appeals are exhausted.
- Human rights groups including Amnesty International condemned the rushed process and warned that broadly worded crimes such as “incitement” or facilitation, including on social media, could be used to violate rights or target political opponents.
- The bill must be approved by the Council of the Nation before presidential ratification, a step that would end Algeria’s long practical moratorium on executions and is likely to prompt international criticism and legal challenges.