putri-anggraini
Algeria's national assembly has approved legislation that makes deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or fields a capital offence, following a wave of deadly wildfires that tore through parts of the country during an intense heatwave. The bill was voted through on Thursday and represents one of the most severe legal responses to environmental crime anywhere in the region.
Under the new law, anyone convicted of intentionally igniting forests, woodland or agricultural fields could be sentenced to death. The legislation also extends capital punishment to cases of child abduction that involve torture, sexual assault or mutilation, broadening the scope of offences that carry the ultimate penalty under Algerian criminal law.
Capital punishment has existed in Algeria's penal code for certain crimes for decades, but the country has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1993. The adoption of the new law therefore does not change the legal status of the death penalty itself, but it adds significant new categories of offences to the list of crimes for which a judge may impose it.
The move follows a series of fires that swept across north-eastern Algeria during a period of extreme heat across northern Africa. More than 100 separate blazes were recorded in the affected region, prompting President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to instruct the justice ministry to draft amendments to the criminal code.
The official death toll from the fires stands at 12, according to government figures. However, independent news outlets and investigative journalists believe the true number of fatalities is considerably higher, raising questions about the accuracy of official reporting in the aftermath of the disaster.
Investigative journalist Nozha Khelalef has been compiling the names of people believed to have died in the fires by gathering death notices posted by grieving families and information released by some local authorities. Her running tally, published on the independent news website Twala, places the death toll at approximately 200 — a figure far above the government's official count.
That discrepancy has intensified scrutiny of how Algerian authorities record and communicate casualties from natural disasters. It has also fuelled public anger and debate over whether the state's response to the fires was adequate, and whether tougher criminal penalties are the right solution to a problem driven in part by environmental factors.
Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa defended the legislation before parliament, telling lawmakers that the adoption of the death penalty for these acts represented the appropriate legal response to curb such crimes. His remarks were reported by the news agency AFP.
Boudjemaa argued that the harsher penalties were justified because arson had reached the level of organised crime. He said investigations had suggested links between some of the fires and foreign parties, echoing longstanding official narratives that external actors may be involved in destabilising the country through deliberate fire-setting.
That claim has not been independently verified, and critics of the government have previously dismissed similar assertions as attempts to deflect blame from domestic governance failures. Nonetheless, the allegation of foreign involvement formed part of the government's public case for introducing the stricter legal framework.
The new law must still be reviewed by the upper chamber, the Council of the Nation, before it can be officially ratified by the president. That process is expected to be largely procedural, given that the bill originated from the executive branch and passed the lower house with broad support.
Algeria experiences forest fires every summer, particularly in its northern mountainous regions where dense woodland and high temperatures create conditions conducive to rapid spread. However, climatologists and environmental experts say that climate change has intensified both the frequency and the severity of recent wildfire seasons across the country.
Longer drought periods, higher ambient temperatures and changing rainfall patterns have left vegetation drier and more combustible, while rural depopulation and reduced forest management have allowed undergrowth to accumulate. These factors combine to make fires more destructive when they do break out, regardless of how they are started.
The decision to attach the death penalty to arson places Algeria alongside a small group of countries that treat environmental crimes as capital offences. Human rights organisations have consistently opposed capital punishment in all circumstances, arguing that it is irreversible, disproportionately applied and does not act as a deterrent to crime.
Within Algeria, the debate is more nuanced. Families of victims and residents of fire-affected communities have broadly welcomed the prospect of severe punishment, viewing the fires as acts of mass destruction that destroyed livelihoods, homes and entire ecosystems. For them, the symbolic weight of the law matters as much as its practical enforcement.
Legal experts note, however, that securing convictions for deliberately set fires is notoriously difficult. Prosecutors must prove intent beyond reasonable doubt, distinguishing arson from accidents, negligence or fires sparked by natural causes. Even with the death penalty available, the practical effect of the law may depend on the quality of forensic investigation and judicial capacity.
The broader question remains whether punitive measures alone can address a problem with deep environmental roots. Analysts suggest that prevention — including investment in firefighting aircraft, early warning systems, forest management and community preparedness — may ultimately save more lives than the threat of execution.
For now, the legislation signals that Algeria's government intends to treat wildfire arson as a crime of exceptional gravity. Whether the law deters future attacks, satisfies public demands for accountability, or exposes the country to international criticism over its use of capital punishment will only become clear once the upper house completes its review and the president signs the bill into law.
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