Algeria’s laws prescribe the death penalty for a range of crimes including ordinary crimes.

Algeria’s laws prescribe the death penalty for a range of crimes including ordinary crimes. In 1992 the scope of the death penalty was extended to terrorist offences. 
The Penal Code provides for the application of the death penalty for serious offences including: treason and espionage, attempts to change the regime or actions aimed at incitement, destruction of territory, sabotage to public and economic utilities, massacres and slaughters, participation in armed bands or in insurrectionary movements, counterfeiting, murder, acts of torture or cruelty, kidnapping and aggravated theft.
On April 3, 2006, Algeria approved a new criminal code that did not scrap the death penalty. It had seemed as though the government was intent on abolishing capital punishment, however, the new code retained a full version of ‘Article 5’ foreseeing its application.
The political events of 1991/92 which culminated in an annulment of the vote following the election of the Islamic Front, and subsequent acts of terrorism, led to the declaration of a state of emergency and the introduction of special laws in September 1992 (anti-terrorism decree) extending the application of the death penalty. This special decree was almost entirely included in the ordinary law of 1995 that is currently applicable.
Former President Liamine Zeroual declared a moratorium on executions in December 1993 and no executions have been carried out since.
The last executions took place in August 1993, when seven armed Islamists were executed. They had been condemned to death for a 1992 attack on Algiers airport by special courts, which have since been dissolved.
On April 15, 1999, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected President of Algeria. After 7 years of civil war, 100,000 murders, hundreds of missing people, unemployment and institutional difficulties, the new President launched a policy for reconciliation.
In June 1999, the Algerian Parliament approved a law providing for reduced prison terms to be meted out to members of armed Islamic fundamentalist groups. Militant fundamentalists who had not perpetrated any killings for six months and were ready to testify against their accomplices could benefit under this law. The following month President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pardoned thousands of fundamentalists on the basis of this national reconciliation law, which was approved by a majority of 84.96% of voters in a national referendum held in September 1999.
In 2001 President Bouteflika pardoned 7,000 prisoners and 115 inmates condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
On June 27, 2004 Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz pledged to abandon the death penalty for all but serious crimes such as terrorism and treason, media reports said. The newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on June 29, 2004 reported that Belaiz’s proposal also aimed to put an end to the widely-condemned practice of torture in Algerian prisons and could be submitted to parliament by autumn. The EU had repeatedly requested Algeria to abolish the death penalty and eradicate torture. Algeria intended to co-operate more closely with European authorities, that refuse to hand over Algerian nationals detained on the continent on charges of terrorism because of the existence of the death penalty in the north African state.
The European Convention on Human Rights binds EU countries to reject extradition requests if there is a possibility of a death sentence.
In 2003, 14 death sentences were handed down by the country’s courts.