Algeria's president orders introduction of death penalty for forest arson

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has instructed the country's Ministry of Justice to prepare amendments to the criminal legislation that would allow the death penalty to be applied to persons found guilty of deliberately setting fire to forests.

The decision was made against the backdrop of large-scale fires in the north of the country, which have claimed the lives of at least 12 people.

The head of state set a deadline of September 15 for the preparation of the corresponding amendments. The measure specifically concerns cases of deliberate forest arson, while the final decision on applying the punishment must be made after an investigation has been carried out and guilt established. Tebboune said earlier that the theory of the deliberate origin of some of the fires is not ruled out. The president ordered investigations to be conducted that must establish the causes of the fires, as well as determine the scale of the damage they caused

Over the past few days, more than 100 forest fires have been recorded in northeastern Algeria. Rescue services managed to contain and extinguish most of the fires, but some hotspots continued to burn.

According to the Algerian press bureau, of the 19 fires that broke out in the country over the preceding 24 hours, 18 had been extinguished by Sunday. Civil defense personnel continued working at the remaining sites, while at the same time monitoring areas where there remained a danger of the fire spreading again.

Under the current regulations, deliberate forest arson can entail a punishment of up to 30 years' imprisonment. In the most serious cases, the legislation provides for the possibility of imposing life imprisonment.

Source: BBC