Algeria’s president on Sunday ordered the introduction of the death penalty for deliberately setting forest fires after recent blazes across the country killed 12 people.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune issued the directive during a high-level meeting on measures to deal with the aftermath of the fires, attended by senior civilian and military officials, state TV reported.

He instructed the justice minister to submit an amendment to the penal code by Sept. 15 providing for capital punishment for anyone convicted of intentionally setting fire to forested areas.

State television said the sentence would be carried out only after all legal avenues of appeal had been exhausted.

The death penalty remains in Algeria’s criminal code for several offenses, but the country has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1993.

Under current law, deliberately setting forest fires is punishable by up to 30 years in prison or life in prison in certain cases.

Compensation for affected families, plus basic utilities to be restored by weekend

Tebboune also ordered provincial governors to provide security authorities with all available information related to the outbreak of forest fires.

“We saw videos and noticed that a number of fires broke out at the same time, at around 1 am, which raises many questions,” he said.

The president also ordered immediate compensation for affected families, with committees to assess losses and determine the value of damaged property.

He said electricity, gas, water, and telecommunications networks in affected areas should be repaired by next Saturday at the latest, while damaged homes should be restored as quickly as possible.

Tebboune also instructed the housing minister to arrange for construction companies to repair damaged homes within set deadlines, saying life in fire-hit areas should return to normal within a week.

On Wednesday, Algeria’s Interior Ministry said 12 people had been killed in a recent wave of wildfires across several eastern provinces, according to local media. (AA)