Africa
Algeria sentence dozens to death over lynching
According to the state news agency, a court in Algeria has condemned 49 people to death for killing a man who was wrongly accused of setting forest fires last year.
Given the ban on executions, the sentences will probably be lowered to life in prison.
In 2021, Algeria experienced the worst fires in the country’s history, with multiple blazes killing 90 people.
Djamel Ben Ismail, the lynching victim, had gone to assist in putting out the fires.
The 38-year-old tweeted that he will go more than 320 kilometers (200 miles) from his home to “give a hand to our friends” fighting the fires in the Kabylie region, east of the capital Algiers, which was the worst-hit area, when the fires broke out in August of last year.
Soon after he arrived, locals falsely accused him of starting fires himself.
On August 11, graphic videos that supposedly showed Ben Ismail being attacked started to circulate. He was burned and tormented before his body was carried to the village square.
The videos caused national outrage.
The brother of Mr. Ben Ismail requested people to remove the attack video from social media. He claimed that his mother was still in the dark about her son’s passing.
Noureddine Ben Ismail, his father, described himself as “devastated.” “My son departed for Kabylie, a place he adores, to assist his brothers. He was roasted alive “said he.
According to the AFP news agency, Algerians appreciated the father’s appeals for restraint and “brotherhood.”
Authorities reportedly accused “criminals” for the fires, which broke out in the midst of dry conditions and extremely high temperatures.
According to the state news agency, which is quoted by the AFP, the court sentenced 28 additional people to prison terms ranging from two to ten years for offenses related to the lynching.
