Algeria faces calls to drop death penalty plans after wildfires

What the report says

Amnesty International is pressing Algeria to abandon plans to widen the use of the death penalty after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune moved to make wildfire arson a capital offence. The rights group said in a statement on Tuesday that the government should stop the proposed changes, noting that Algeria has not carried out an execution for more than three decades.

The proposal followed destructive wildfires last month that killed at least 12 people and injured 54, with fires reported across the Kabylie region and other parts of northeastern Algeria. According to Al Jazeera’s report, Tebboune instructed Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa to draft amendments that would add arson, and also child abduction and abuse, to offences that could carry the death penalty. He said those sentenced to death would still have the right to appeal.

Amnesty argued the measures could be used against domestic political opponents rather than only against people accused of starting fires. The organisation said 20 people were arrested between July 26 and September 10 on suspicion of arson and subversion, a charge that can be linked to terrorism cases.

The report also placed the issue in the context of Algeria’s 2021 wildfires, when authorities prosecuted scores of people on terrorism-related charges and blamed the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie, which the state considers a terrorist group. Amnesty said Algeria should focus on the underlying drivers of repeated wildfire disasters instead of expanding capital punishment.