Algeria has enacted a law that imposes the death penalty on individuals convicted of deliberately setting fire to forests or fields. The decision follows a series of powerful wildfires that ravaged the north‑eastern region of the country during an intense heatwave.
The official death toll from the fires stands at 12, but independent reports tally over 200 casualties. The new legislation also elevates child abductions that involve torture, sexual assault or mutilation to capital offences.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune directed the justice ministry to introduce the changes, indicating that investigations point to organised crime and possible foreign involvement in the arson cases.
Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament that the death penalty is the “appropriate legal response to curb these crimes.” The upper house, the Council of the Nation, will review the bill before it gains presidential ratification.
Investigative journalist Nozha Khelalef has been compiling a list of the estimated 200 victims by gathering death notices and information from local authorities, which she shares on the independent website Twala.
Algeria regularly experiences seasonal forest fires; however, climate change has intensified the scale and severity of recent blazes, provoking calls for harsher penalties and more robust prevention strategies.
