04/09/2026
Algiers, 4 September 2026
Statement by the Algeria Solidarity Group
Death penalty: do not respond to disaster with the irreversible
Our organizations first wish to express their full solidarity with all those affected by the fires that struck fifteen wilayas in the north of the country in August 2026, particularly in Jijel, Béjaïa and Tizi Ouzou: those who lost a loved one, those who were injured, and those who lost their homes, land or livestock.
On 30 August, the President of the Republic instructed the Minister of Justice to amend the Penal Code by 15 September in order to reinstate the death penalty for those responsible for deliberately starting fires, specifying that “there will be ex*****ons” once all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.
There is no ambiguity here. Anyone who deliberately sets a fire and causes the death of another person must be held accountable for their actions before an independent judiciary and must be severely punished. Algerian law already allows for this, and that is not the issue. What is at stake is the end of a moratorium that has been observed for thirty-three years, and the announcement of ex*****ons.
No ex*****on has taken place in Algeria since 31 August 1993, and the authorities have consistently presented this moratorium as an achievement for the country. Alongside sixty-nine other States, Algeria co-sponsored the tenth United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a universal moratorium on ex*****ons, adopted on 17 December 2024, and voted in favour of it, as it has at every vote since 2008. Resuming ex*****ons would mean going back on a commitment made before the United Nations and before the Algerian people.
Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Algeria is a State Party, limits the death penalty to the “most serious crimes”, and General Comment No. 36 of the Human Rights Committee clarifies that this notion is limited to crimes involving intentional killing. Extending the death penalty to deliberate arson where no one has been killed would place Algeria in direct violation of this commitment.
An ex*****on cannot be undone, and it is precisely in times of urgency, when there is pressure to find culprits, that justice is most likely to go wrong. Ongoing proceedings require access to a lawyer from the very outset, the rejection of any coerced confession, independent and contradictory expert examinations, and public hearings. There is no evidence that the death penalty acts as a deterrent, and nothing can replace prevention, the proper maintenance of forested areas, and adaptation to a climate that has become increasingly extreme.
The precedent goes far beyond the issue of fires: the death penalty is applicable to numerous offences, including counter-terrorism charges brought in cases involving the exercise of freedom of expression, and convicted individuals have been awaiting ex*****on for years in Algerian prisons. Finally, a country should not decide, within three weeks, to resume ex*****ons that it has suspended for thirty-three years.
We therefore call on Algeria to honour its own commitments:
— withdraw the draft amendment to the Penal Code announced on 30 August, the adoption of which would expand the scope of crimes punishable by the death penalty;
— maintain the moratorium on ex*****ons, observed for thirty-three years, and enshrine it in legislation that would protect it from decisions taken in response to circumstances;
— commute all death sentences that have been handed down and not executed, some of which have weighed on detainees for years;
— ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the only measure that would make irreversible what has been established through practice;
— ensure a fair trial for anyone prosecuted in connection with the fires, with access to a lawyer from the very outset, the rejection of any coerced confession, and independent and contradictory expert examinations into the origin of the fires;
— open a genuine public debate on forest-fire prevention, the resources available to the Civil Protection authorities, and what was lacking during these days.
What is being decided here goes far beyond the fate of those responsible for the fires. It concerns the place of death in our legal system, and this is a question that belongs to all Algerian women and men.
1. Trans-Mediterranean Alliance of Algerian Women (ATFA)
2. EuroMed Rights
3. Riposte internationale
4. Tharwa n’Fadhma n’Soumeur Association
5. Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA)
6. Liberties Algeria
7. Foundation for the Promotion of Rights
