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ALGIERS: Algerian lawmakers on Thursday adopted a law imposing the death penalty on convicted forest arsonists, after deadly wildfires ripped through swathes of the country in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The official death toll from the blazes, which swept through the country\u2019s northeast during the summer, was 12 people, but witnesses have reported the deaths of dozens.<\/p>\n
Algeria had upheld a moratorium on the death penalty since 1993, but in August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the justice minister to amend the penal code to broaden the list of crimes for which capital punishment is allowed.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers on Thursday also voted to extend capital punishment to child kidnappings involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe adoption of the death penalty for these acts is the appropriate legal response to curb these crimes,\u201d Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament after the vote.<\/p>\n
Despite the moratorium, some death sentences have been handed out, including in terror-related cases, though no executions have been carried out so far.<\/p>\n
Tebboune had said that those sentenced to death would be executed once their appeals were exhausted.<\/p>\n
Under the new law, anyone convicted of deliberately setting fire to \u201cforests, woods or planted or unplanted fields\u201d could face execution.<\/p>\n
The same penalty could apply to anyone who \u201ckidnaps a child by any means, tortures them, sexually assaults them and\/or mutilates them\u201d.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International last month urged Algeria not to adopt the law and to refrain from resuming executions.<\/p>\n
The rights group described the move as \u201ca deeply retrograde response\u201d, adding that authorities should instead \u201cfocus on protecting lives, strengthening prevention and emergency response\u201d in the face of reoccurring wildfires.<\/p>\n
The justice minister said the Algerian judicial system still provided safeguards for those facing the death penalty, including avenues for appeal or seeking a presidential pardon.<\/p>\n
Yet Boudjemaa told parliament the tougher penalties were justified because arson had reached \u201cthe level of organized crime\u201d, adding that investigations had uncovered links to \u201cforeign parties\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTargeting the country\u2019s environmental and economic assets by deliberately setting fires, at times at the instigation of foreign actors, constitutes a clear form of treason and an attack on the integrity of the national territory,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
The law is now set to be reviewed by the Senate before being officially ratified by Tebboune.<\/p>\n
Forest fires regularly erupt in northern Algeria during the summer, with climate change intensifying their impact due to increasingly frequent droughts and intense heat.<\/p>\n
Tebboune has nonetheless alleged \u201csomething criminal\u201d as a cause of the latest summer blazes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n