Algeria Assembly Votes to Allow Death Penalty for Deliberate Arson

What changed

Algeria’s national assembly voted on Thursday to allow the death penalty for people convicted of deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or fields. The bill also makes child abduction involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation a capital offence, but it still needs review by the Council of the Nation and ratification by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Why it matters

The law responds to more than 100 fires during an intense heatwave in northern Algeria. The official death toll is 12, while an independent tally puts it at 200, making the scale of the disaster itself part of the political pressure behind the vote.

For prosecutors, deliberate arson could now become a capital case. But the change is not yet enforceable: the upper house must review it, and Algeria has carried out no execution since 1993.

The justice minister said investigations suggested links to “foreign parties” and described arson as organised crime. Those claims remain allegations, so the immediate question is whether the law advances through ratification and how authorities distinguish proven responsibility from suspicion.

The harder problem will remain even if the bill takes effect. Climate change has intensified Algeria’s recent wildfires, meaning a harsher penalty may address deliberate ignition without reducing the heat and fire conditions that make outbreaks more severe.