The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Sidi M’Hamed Court in Algiers said Wednesday that the suspects were detained following three separate investigations into fires allegedly set in state-owned forest areas in the eastern province of Constantine, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu Agency.
In a rare move for wildfire-related cases, prosecutors publicly released the names and photographs of the four suspects as authorities intensified their investigation.
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Officials said Saber Ayoub Ben Fougal and Abderrahmane Fouaizia were arrested after investigators recovered video footage that allegedly showed them setting fire to brushland near Constantine’s Pine neighborhood.
A third suspect, Farouk Lemouissi, was accused of igniting shrubs and trees along Soummam Road in Constantine, with prosecutors saying surveillance footage captured the incident.
The fourth suspect, Saif Eddine Ben Khalifa, was allegedly caught setting fire to two piles of copper wires along the highway connecting Constantine and Annaba. Prosecutors said the blaze spread to nearby woodland, burning about two hectares of forest.
All four suspects appeared before judicial authorities on Wednesday and were placed in pretrial detention while formal investigations continue. They face charges including sabotage endangering lives, public safety and property, as well as intentionally setting fire to state-owned forest land.
Although Algerian law allows the death penalty for sabotage offenses, the country has observed a moratorium on executions since 1993. Courts continue to hand down death sentences in some cases, but they are not carried out and are generally commuted to life imprisonment.
The arrests come as Algeria struggles to contain one of its worst wildfire seasons in recent memory.
Authorities evacuated residents from threatened communities and transferred patients from a hospital in the eastern town of Seraidi after fast-moving fires advanced toward populated areas. Civil Protection said all available firefighting personnel, equipment and aerial resources had been deployed to combat the blazes.
The Interior Ministry said at least six people have died in forest fires affecting multiple provinces in recent days. Firefighters had extinguished 104 of 170 reported wildfires by Tuesday evening but were still battling 66 active fires across 19 provinces.
The wildfire crisis has unfolded during more than two weeks of extreme heat, with temperatures climbing to 49 degrees Celsius (120.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mediterranean coastal cities, fueled by strong, hot southerly winds.
According to Civil Protection, Algeria recorded 3,719 wildfires between May 1 and July 20, compared with 1,501 during the same period last year—an increase of nearly 150%.
The General Directorate of Forests said the fires have destroyed more than 1,666 hectares (4,117 acres) of vegetation so far this season, the country’s highest level of vegetation loss since the catastrophic wildfires that devastated Algeria in 2021.
