Algeria’s national assembly has voted to make deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or fields punishable by death. The bill also extends capital punishment to child abductions involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation.
The vote followed more than 100 fires in the country’s north-east during a heatwave. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had ordered the justice ministry to prepare the changes. The official death toll is 12, while investigative journalist Nozha Khelalef has listed 200 people believed to have died, using family death notices and information from some local authorities.
Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa said investigations suggested links between the arson and foreign parties. The Council of the Nation will review the bill before it goes to the president for ratification. Algeria already has the death penalty for some offences but has carried out no executions since 1993.
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