Algeria's Death Penalty Debate After Deadly Wildfires, Explained
Amnesty International urged Algeria on September 15, 2026, to abandon plans to expand the death penalty and restart executions after more than 30 years without them. The appeal came in a statement titled "Algeria: Threats to resume executions after 30 years severe blow to human rights", which restates the group's unconditional opposition to the death penalty in all cases. Amnesty International
The statement responded to orders from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. On August 31, 2026, Tebboune ordered a change to the Penal Code, the law that defines crimes and punishments, to introduce the death penalty with immediate execution. He told Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa to draft the change and present a proposal by September 15. The plan covers arson that starts forest fires, plus child abduction and abuse. Tebboune said anyone sentenced to death would have the right to appeal before execution. Al Jazeera
The orders followed deadly fires in the northeast. Wildfires in August 2026 killed at least 12 people and injured 54 others. Entire villages were destroyed across the Kabylie region and other parts of northeastern Algeria. By early September, firefighters were fighting what officials and wire reports described as an unprecedented wave of deadly and devastating wildfires. Tebboune rejected what he called conspiracy theories about the cause of the 2026 fires and pointed to climate-related explanations. Al Jazeera
Algerian law now punishes arson with three years to life in prison, and allows the death penalty if the fire causes death. The country has not carried out an execution since 1993. Courts still hand down death sentences. Those sentences are almost always commuted, meaning changed to life in prison.
Amnesty International says the proposal would end the three-decade pause and add more crimes that can carry a death sentence. Algerian authorities describe it as enforcement of existing law, not something new. On August 31, 2026, Algeria Press Service reported legal experts stressing the need to enforce a workable death penalty given the extreme seriousness of arson. On September 3, the agency reported that bringing back the death penalty for arsonists was met with relief and satisfaction.
Police action is already moving on a separate track. Authorities arrested 20 people between July 26 and September 10, 2026, pending investigations for arson and subversion, a charge linked to undermining state authority. Amnesty International accused the authorities of using the expanded death penalty to target political opposition groups. Al Jazeera
Both sides point to 2021. That year, wildfires killed 90 people, and the government charged scores of people under terrorism-related laws. It blamed the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), which it classifies as a terrorist organisation, for those fires. In February 2026, Amnesty International had already called for a fair retrial for dozens accused of violence in Kabylie, without use of the death penalty. Amnesty International also urged the government to address the root causes of climate disasters instead of focusing on alleged arsonists.
The broader context here is a clash between two pressures Algerian leaders are trying to manage at once. One is climate vulnerability. The president blames climate factors for the 2026 fires while ordering a tougher criminal law. The other is internal security. Arson cases since late July combine criminal suspicion with subversion claims, echoing the terrorism framing from 2021. For experts on North African law and security, the question is whether the Penal Code change will in practice make arson, subversion and terrorism charges capital offenses more often, even if the text focuses on forest fires and crimes against children.
Looking at what this means for diplomacy and law, the effects would reach beyond Algerian courts. Resuming executions after 1993 would change Algeria's position among countries that keep the death penalty on the books but do not use it. It would test ties with European partners and with international human rights bodies that view a long period without executions as a commitment to preserve. At home, the September 15 deadline for the minister's proposal leaves a short lawmaking window. Parliamentary drafting, judicial review steps, and the appeal guarantee cited by Tebboune will decide how fast the plan becomes enforceable law, and how courts fit any new death-penalty rules with current sentencing and commutation practice.
