The Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH) has expressed deep concern over the Algerian authorities’ stated intention to resume executions, which have been de facto suspended in the country since 1993.
In a statement, the organization warned against “moves toward resuming the application of the death penalty in Algeria” and called for the right to life to be preserved. OMDH said it had learned “with concern of the Algerian presidency’s move toward revising criminal legislation to allow executions to resume, after more than three decades of their effective suspension.”
The reaction follows announcements by Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the wake of the devastating wildfires that struck several regions of the country in late August. On August 30, the Algerian president ordered the Penal Code to be amended by September 15 to reinstate executions for those involved in deliberately starting fires.
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While recalling that the right to life is a fundamental right from which all other rights and freedoms flow, OMDH considers that a resumption of executions would constitute “a serious step backward” in light of Algeria’s international commitments to restrict the use of capital punishment and move progressively toward its abolition.
The organization cited in particular Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which recognizes every human being’s inherent right to life.
A De Facto Moratorium Since 1993
Although capital punishment remains on Algeria’s statute books and continues to be handed down by the courts, no execution has been recorded since 1993. Algeria has therefore observed a de facto moratorium for more than three decades.
OMDH also recalled that in December 2007, Algiers voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 62/149, which called on states that retain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing it. Algeria had even co-sponsored the draft resolution.
For the Moroccan organization, resuming executions would therefore put Algeria at odds with the international momentum toward abolishing capital punishment, which OMDH describes as a “cruel punishment that degrades human dignity.”
The organization consequently called on the Algerian authorities to reverse course and maintain the moratorium observed since 1993. It reaffirmed its rejection of “any resumption of executions in Algeria or any other country.”
Finally, OMDH urged regional and international human rights organizations “to act urgently to encourage the Algerian authorities to abandon this course and to continue supporting the various efforts aimed at the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.”
