Algeria Seeks Death Penalty for Forest-Fire Arson Despite Execution Freeze

President Tebboune ordered draft amendments by 15 September making deliberate forest-fire arson a capital offence, raising the maximum penalty from life imprisonment. Algeria has not carried out an execution since 1993, though the death penalty remains on its statute books. The directive follows fires that killed at least 12 people across northern Algeria during an intense North African heatwave.