An Algerian court sentenced 49 people to death on Thursday, on charges of burning a citizen and abusing his body in the Kabylie region in the year 2021, but the sentences will be reduced to life and imprisonment due to the death penalty on executions in the country.
And the APS reported that the Criminal Court of First Instance in Casablanca in Algiers convicted the defendants in the case of the assassination of Djamel Ben Ismail, who had gone to the town of Arbaa Naith Irathen in the state of Tizi Ouzou to participate in putting out fires that claimed at least 90 lives within a week in August. last year.
The media had initially indicated that 48 death sentences had been issued, but the Algerian Agency indicated that 49 death sentences had been issued in the case.
The agency indicated that the court also issued sentences ranging between 10 years and two years in prison against 28 defendants, in addition to fines ranging between 100,000 and 200,000 Algerian dinars, while it acquitted 17 other defendants.
The court also sentenced, in absentia, Farhat Mehenni, leader of the "MAC" movement demanding the secession of the Kabylie region - which the Algerian authorities classify as a "terrorist" organization - to life imprisonment on charges related to the execution of Jamal Ben Ismail, according to the Algerian News Agency.
Four fugitive defendants, including a professional deputy, Ibrahim Balabes, were sentenced to the same penalty.
The Algerian authorities had accused the separatist movement of being responsible for the fires and the incident that killed the young man.
Some of the arrested suspects confessed to belonging to the movement, according to confessions filmed and broadcast on Algerian television.
Those involved in this case are being prosecuted on several charges, particularly the felony of committing “terrorist and subversive acts targeting state security and national unity,” “participation in premeditated murder,” “violent assault on public forces,” “spreading hate speech,” and "Incitement to destroy the property of others and armed gathering," according to the agency.
In Algeria, a moratorium on executions has been in force since 1993.
Djamel Bensmail was 38 years old when he voluntarily went to the town of Arbaa-Naith-Irathen in Tizi-Ouzou, in the northwest of the country, to help extinguish forest fires that killed at least 90 people within a week.
When he learned that some of the townspeople suspected him of being involved in starting the fires because he was a stranger to the area, he hurried to surrender himself to the police, but a large crowd of angry citizens snatched him from the hands of the security forces, tortured him, burned him alive, and mutilated his corpse.
Scenes spread on social media showed crowds surrounding the police car in which Ben Ismail was inside, then dragging him and beating him.
After his torture, he was burned alive, while young men were taking selfies in front of his corpse.
When the incident occurred, which sparked outrage across the country, the photos were commented on, which were widely circulated with the hashtag #Justice for Jamal Bensmail.
The people who took selfies tried to hide their trace, but netizens from all over the country documented videos and took pictures so that the perpetrators of this heinous crime, which shocked by its atrocity, would not escape punishment.
The arrests were carried out in several regions of the country.
Some of the persons involved in the execution were handed over to the police by their families.
At the time, Amnesty International called on the Algerian authorities to "send a clear message that they will not allow such violence."
Likewise, the Algerian League for Human Rights condemned the "shocking" scenes of the incident, and stressed that Ben Ismail had gone to the state of Tizi Ouzou to help put out the fires.
His father was considered a national hero after his call for calm and brotherhood among Algerians.
Journalist and writer Muhammad Badawi praised him on his Facebook account, saying, "His position will be included in the global book of human behavior that reflects nobility, tolerance and justice. Few men were or will be able to take it."
During the trial, video clips that the defendants had posted on social media showed details of the horrific crime.
These videos showed how Jamal Benismael was tortured, burned alive, and all his personal belongings, including his cell phone, were taken away.
