News
Show news feed

A court in Algeria has sentenced 49 people to death for lynching a man falsely accused of starting deadly forest fires last year, the state news agency APS reported.

The North African country has had a moratorium on death sentences since 1993, and they have been replaced by life in prison

The court also sentenced 28 other defendants to prison terms ranging from two years to 10 years without parole.

The fires in the Kabylia region killed more than 90 people and destroyed thousands of hectares of land.

The lynching of Jamal Ben Ismail, 38, in the town of Larba Nath Iraten in the northern province of Tizi Ouzou was captured on video. Video of the incident shows a mob beating and burning him after he arrived in the area to help put out a fire. The attack happened after false rumors spread online that he was an arsonist, Ben Ismail sought protection from the police. But a mob dragged him out of a police van and lynched him.

Police initially arrested 61 people in the murder case.

!
This text available in   Հայերեն and Русский
Print