00:00Algerian lawmakers on Thursday adopted a law imposing the death penalty on convicted forest
00:06arsonists after deadly wildfires swept through the country's northeast during the summer.
00:11The blazes officially killed 12 people, but witnesses have reported dozens of deaths.
00:17Under the new law, anyone convicted of deliberately setting fire to forests, woods or planted
00:22or unplanted fields could face execution.
00:24Lawmakers also voted to extend capital punishment to child kidnappings involving torture, sexual
00:30assault or mutilation.
00:32Algeria had upheld a moratorium on the death penalty since 1993.
00:37Some death sentences have been handed out, though no executions have been carried out so far.
00:42But in August, President Abdelmajid Tebbun ordered the Justice Minister to amend the criminal code
00:47to broaden the list of crimes for which capital punishment is allowed.
00:51Last month, Amnesty International urged Algeria not to adopt the text and to refrain from
00:57resuming executions.
00:58The NGO described the move as a deeply retrograde response.
01:02The new law is now said to be reviewed by the Senate before being officially ratified by Tebbun.
