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President Abdelmadjid Tebboune presided over a high-level meeting on the wildfire aftermath where he ordered the justice minister to submit revisions introducing the death penalty for intentional arson in forested areas with the explicit requirement that sentences be executed once legal avenues are exhausted according to state television reports. The directive sets a firm deadline of September 15 for the government to review the changes before sending them to parliament Tebboune stated during the session that those who believe the law will not be applied should understand that society and justice will claim their due. Algerian authorities have already confirmed a criminal element in several ignition points with simultaneous fire starts raising suspicions of foul play as the president noted on Saturday that investigations would focus on the unusual intensity of the blazes.
The Interior Ministry placed the death toll at 12 with five fatalities in Jijel four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou while 54 others sustained injuries some of them critical as flames swept through villages and forced thousands to flee their homes. A three-day national mourning period was declared with all cultural events and sports competitions cancelled as civil protection teams continued to battle residual fires on Sunday afternoon. The Algerian Press Service reported that 18 of 19 new outbreaks in the preceding 24 hours had been brought under control even as overall tallies exceeded 150 fires across multiple provinces during the peak of the emergency.
Prosecutors in Algiers announced the pretrial detention of four suspects accused of setting blazes in the Constantine region after surveillance footage allegedly captured them igniting brush and wires that spread to state-owned woodland according to judicial statements relayed by multiple outlets. The individuals face charges of sabotage endangering lives and property in addition to deliberate arson with authorities releasing names and images in an unusual step to underscore the gravity of the probe. Security services have presented several other detainees to courts in affected eastern and central wilayas where some remain in custody pending further inquiries into possible coordinated attacks.
Algeria has experienced recurrent summer wildfires for decades but the Agriculture Ministry data shows that burned forest area fell 91 percent in 2024 to just 3 490 hectares against a prior decade average of 40 000 hectares thanks to improved prevention and rapid response coordination. A Lancet Countdown assessment found that heat-related deaths worldwide rose 63 percent since the 1990s with forest fires alone claiming an estimated 154 000 lives globally in 2024 as climate change intensifies drought and extreme temperatures across North Africa. The latest outbreak erupted during an intense regional heatwave that also struck Tunisia with experts linking stronger fire behavior to prolonged dry conditions and vegetation stress observed in recent years.
Tebboune instructed that the state assume full financial responsibility for compensating affected families and repairing damaged homes infrastructure and essential services while separate teams assess the scale of losses across the burned zones. The president emphasized that every victim household would receive immediate support without bureaucratic delays as part of the broader response. Civil protection and forestry officials have been deployed to map destruction and prioritize restoration in the hardest-hit districts of the north-east.
The penal code has retained capital punishment for certain crimes although Algeria has observed a de facto moratorium with no executions performed since 1993 and prior legislation already permitted life imprisonment or extended terms up to 30 years for deliberate forest fires that cause harm. A law enacted in late 2024 further classified intentional ignition as a criminal act punishable by perpetual imprisonment if it targets public lands with intent to damage the environment or by death where human fatalities result according to judicial explanations. Tebboune’s latest directive seeks to ensure that such maximum penalties move beyond statute to actual enforcement in arson cases tied to the current disaster.
Earlier severe fire seasons provide scale for the latest events including 2021 when at least 90 people perished nationwide amid similar heat and drought conditions that also fueled unfounded accusations leading to the lynching of a volunteer wrongly suspected of arson. Africanews reports detail how courts later handed down death sentences to dozens involved in that mob killing though these were commuted to life terms under the standing moratorium. The current campaign includes tightened restrictions on any open flames near forests since June with officials stressing uniform enforcement to protect both lives and the national forest heritage.
