Algeria Moves to Make Forest-Fire Arson a Capital Crime as Wildfires Kill 12
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ordered the justice ministry to draft amendments that would impose the death penalty on anyone convicted of deliberately starting forest fires, with a deadline of 15 September for the legislation. The directive comes after forest fires killed at least 12 people across northern Algeria and displaced thousands more (BBC).
Tebboune announced the measures on Sunday after chairing a meeting on the fires' consequences. The blazes have torn through large areas of northern Algeria, injuring dozens and causing widespread destruction. On Saturday, the president said he did not rule out foul play, pointing to the intensity of the flames, and said investigations would follow (BBC; APS).
Under current Algerian law, deliberately setting forest fires carries up to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment in certain cases. Capital punishment (the death penalty) remains on the books for some offences, but Algeria has not carried out an execution since 1993. The proposed amendments would add intentional forest-fire arson to the list of crimes eligible for the death penalty (BBC).
More than 100 wildfires were recorded in recent days in the country's north-east, most of which have been put out. As of Sunday afternoon, Algerian civil authorities were still fighting some fires. The Algerian Press Service reported that 18 of 19 fires that broke out in the previous 24 hours had been brought under control (BBC).
The toll from this season fits a wider pattern. Between 8 July and Saturday at 13:00, 1,850 fires were recorded across Algeria, of which 1,838 were brought under control — 97% of all blazes (APS). Algeria regularly experiences forest fires during the summer months, a trend that climate change has worsened in both intensity and severity (BBC).
The fires erupted during an intense heatwave across northern Africa, with Algeria and Tunisia particularly affected. Beyond the criminal law overhaul, Tebboune ordered compensation for affected families, repairs to damaged homes, and the restoration of essential services. He also called for investigations into the full extent of damage and losses (BBC).
The precedent for treating Algerian wildfires as potential criminal acts is well established. In August 2021, the deadliest wildfires in the country's history killed 69 people, with 42 deaths recorded on a single day, including 25 soldiers. Algeria's Interior Minister at the time, Kamel Beldjoud, publicly accused arsonists of igniting the fires, and authorities arrested 22 suspected arsonists (Al Jazeera; Reuters; France 24).
The broader context here is the intersection of two pressures on the Algerian state: a climate-driven rise in seasonal fire risk and a recurring political instinct to attribute devastating fires to criminal conspiracy. The 2021 arrests showed that authorities have previously moved from suspicion to detention within days of major blazes. Tebboune's current push to raise the maximum penalty from life imprisonment to death, even as Algeria observes a de facto halt on executions stretching back more than three decades, suggests a readiness to use penal severity as a signalling tool rather than an operational deterrent.
Whether the justice ministry can meet the 15 September deadline for drafting the amendments is an open question, as is the parliamentary pathway for enactment. What is clear is that the directive frames intentional arson as a capital offence at a moment when the country is again counting the human cost of its wildfire season.
