Child Kidnapping, Arson Face Death Penalty Under New Law
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has promulgated Law No. 26-13, which modifies and supplements Order No. 66-156, encompassing the Penal Code. This significant legislative action introduces stringent new penalties for a range of serious offenses, notably including the death penalty for specific instances of child kidnapping and intentional arson.
According to Article 291 of the updated law, the death penalty is now mandated for anyone who kidnaps a child by any means. This includes cases where a child is subjected to torture, sexual assault, or mutilation. Individuals convicted of these actions will not be eligible for mitigating circumstances as outlined elsewhere in the penal code, reinforcing the severity of the legal consequences for such crimes.
The modifications also address intentional arson with severe penalties. Article 395 bis stipulates the death penalty for those who deliberately set fire to forests, cultivated or uncultivated fields, trees, or timber piles located within forests. Furthermore, Article 396 bis 1 extends the death penalty to anyone who intentionally sets fire to public or private property at the instigation of or for the benefit of a foreign state or party, as part of treason or espionage, or within an organized criminal group. This penalty also applies if such acts target public security, national order, national unity, institutional stability, the national economy, or cause harm to the environment, ecological balance, or natural resources. The law, under Article 396 bis 2, also mandates the death penalty for those who incite, encourage, finance, orchestrate, or facilitate these arson offenses by any means, including through information and communication technologies or social media platforms.
Moreover, the revised penal code specifies additional penalties for other forms of arson. Article 396 prescribes imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years for individuals who intentionally set fire to properties not owned by them, such as standing crops, straw, or haystacks. A particularly grave provision, Article 399, dictates that in all cases of intentional arson, the perpetrator will face the death penalty if the fire results in the death of one or more persons.
