The Algerian People’s National Assembly (APN) passed a legislative amendment to the Penal Code on Thursday, October 1, expanding the scope of the death penalty to encompass deliberate forest arson and specific acts of aggravated child abduction.
Introduced at the initiative of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune following severe, deadly summer wildfires in the country’s northeast, the bill secured majority support among lawmakers to apply capital punishment to individuals found guilty of intentionally setting fire to forests, fields, or woodland, as well as those who abduct, torture, sexually assault, or mutilate children. Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa framed the expanded statutory penalties—which previously carried maximum sentences of 20 years to life imprisonment—as a necessary legal response to strengthen state deterrence against escalating criminal acts.
The measure drew broad backing from government-aligned parties, with supporters citing the societal necessity of stricter penal sanctions, while secular opposition groups like the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) voted against the legislation, reiterating their long-standing stance against capital punishment. Despite the formal statutory expansion and the continued imposition of capital sentences by judicial courts for terrorism and intentional homicide, Algeria has maintained a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since 1993, with no executions carried out in the country over the past three decades.
AK/Sf/lb/abj/APA