Algeria faces calls to drop death penalty plans after wildfires

Algeria residents mourn neighbours lost in wildfire aftermath. By Al Jazeera Staff and AFP.

Key points

• The rights group remarked authorities arrested 20 residents pending investigations for arson and subversion – a potentially terrorism-related charge – between July 26 and September 10.
• In the aftermath of the fires, Tebboune instructed Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa to amend the law to include arson as well as "child abductors and abusers".
• In an official note issued on Tuesday, the human rights organisation pressed an immediate halt to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's directives.
• The push to broaden capital punishment sentencing gained momentum after devastating wildfires that killed at least 12 residents and injured 54 others last month.
• After presidential moves to produce wildfire arson a capital crime, amnesty International has pressed Algeria to abandon aims to expand the death penalty and resume executions.

In an official note issued on Tuesday, the human rights organisation pressed an immediate halt to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's directives. Algeria has not carried out an execution in more than 30 years.

In practice, the push to broaden capital punishment sentencing gained momentum after devastating wildfires that killed at least 12 residents and injured 54 others last month.

In practice, the flames wiped out entire villages throughout the Kabylie region and other parts of northeastern Algeria, the statement stated.

Anyone sentenced to death could exercise their right to appeal before being executed, Tebboune remarked. Wildfires applied to justify repression.

Amnesty accused Algerian authorities of using the proposed expanded death penalty to target political opposition groups.

Notably, the rights group remarked authorities arrested 20 residents pending investigations for arson and subversion – a potentially terrorism-related charge – between July 26 and September 10.

During the 2021 wildfires that left 90 dead, the administration prosecuted scores of residents on terrorism-related charges, blaming the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), an opposition group that the administration classifies as a terrorist organisation.

Amnesty pressed the administration to address the root cause of the climate catastrophes instead of pursuing "arsonists".

"Accountability for the devastating loss of life caused by wildfires cannot be reduced to pursuing alleged perpetrators of arson, " the human rights group stated.

For now, algeria faces calls to drop death penalty plans after wildfires remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.