Algeria extends death penalty to forest arsonists

Algerian lawmakers adopted penal code changes on Thursday extending the death penalty to people convicted of deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or fields.

The amendments, adopted after deadly wildfires in northern Algeria, also extend capital punishment to child kidnappings involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation.

Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament after the vote that the death penalty was an appropriate legal response to curb those crimes.

Algeria has not carried out an execution since 1993, though courts have continued to hand down death sentences in some cases, including terrorism-related cases.

In August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the justice minister to broaden the list of crimes carrying capital punishment and said people sentenced to death would be executed once their appeals were exhausted.

Amnesty International urged Algeria last month to abandon the changes and refrain from resuming executions.

Forest fires occur regularly in northern Algeria during summer. Tebboune alleged there was “something criminal” about the summer blazes, which officials said killed 12 people. Witnesses reported dozens of deaths.