<\/p>\n
Responding to the lower house of the Algerian Parliament adopting today legal amendments that expand the scope of the death penalty after more than three decades without any executions, Amnesty International\u2019s Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s decision by the Algerian People\u2019s National Assembly to approve these regressive amendments to the Penal Code is a devastating blow for human rights and is at odds with Algeria\u2019s international human rights obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lower house parliamentary vote took place just one month after<\/a> devastating wildfires erupted across north-eastern Algeria between 26 and 30 August. Within days, Algeria\u2019s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered<\/a>\u00a0the Minister of Justice to amend the country\u2019s Penal Code to\u00a0\u2018reintroduce\u2019\u00a0the death penalty\u00a0for arson, warning that anyone who exhausted their right of appeal would face execution. The Minister of Justice also warned<\/a> the press that the death penalty would be applied.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amendments<\/a>, which were rushed through parliament in a process devoid of meaningful consultations with relevant stakeholders, including human rights NGOs and lawyers,\u00a0introduced the death penalty for broadly worded actions such as inciting, encouraging or facilitating arson, including on social media, as well as\u00a0the abduction, torture and sexual assault of children.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is deeply alarming that the Algerian authorities are moving so quickly to follow through on their plans to expand the scope of the death penalty. This dangerous step backwards, coupled with threats to resume executions for the first time in more than 30 years, contradicts Algeria\u2019s consistent support to\u00a0UN\u00a0General Assembly resolutions<\/a>\u00a0calling for a moratorium\u00a0on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty and runs contrary to the global trend towards its abolition.<\/p>\n \u201cAlgerian lawmakers must reject the amendments to the Penal Code in the upcoming vote in the Council of the Nation, the upper house of parliament, and halt all plans to expand Algeria\u2019s use of the death penalty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the devastating wildfires demand thorough investigations and accountability, the tragic loss of life they caused must not be used to justify further loss of life. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment and an assault on the right to life. Instead of broadening its application, Algeria\u2019s authorities should establish an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards full abolition of the death penalty.<\/p>\n \u201cAlgeria\u2019s response to the wildfires must ensure respect for the right to effective remedy, including providing guarantees of non-repetition. While authorities have announced compensation for victims and plans to provide more resources for firefighters, they have yet to disclose comprehensive casualty figures for the fires and officials have focused on highlighting the responsibility of alleged arsonists and foreign entities before judicial investigations concluded. Genuine accountability must involve a thorough investigation into all factors that contributed to loss of life, including any failures by public officials in prevention or in emergency response procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n Under\u00a0the current Algerian law, arson carries penalties ranging from three years to life imprisonment\u00a0and\u00a0the death penalty if\u00a0it\u00a0causes death. Although Algeria has\u00a0not\u00a0carried out\u00a0executions since 1993, courts continue to\u00a0impose\u00a0death sentences\u00a0most\u00a0commonly\u00a0for murder<\/strong><\/a> and have in some instances resorted<\/a> to the death penalty in politically motivated trials.\u00a0In\u00a0July 2025,\u00a0authorities already broadened the scope of the death penalty to include\u00a0several drug-related offences<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Algeria\u00a0is\u00a0party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights\u00a0(ICCPR),\u00a0which\u00a0restricts\u00a0the\u00a0use\u00a0of the death penalty\u00a0to\u00a0the \u201cmost serious crimes\u201d involving\u00a0intentional killing while setting abolition as a goal in countries that still retain this cruel punishment. State parties to the ICCPR should not<\/a> expand the scope the death penalty nor increase its application.<\/p>\n Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n kabarsula SLOT <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Responding to the lower house of the Algerian Parliament adopting today legal amendments that expand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kabarsula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n