Algeria yesterday sentenced Mokhtar Belmokhtar, known as “Belaawer” (the One-Eyed), to death in absentia after finding him guilty of forming and leading a terrorist organisation and in possessing of, trading in and marketing weapons and ammunition.
The Criminal Court of Oran found Belmokhtar guilty of setting up Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar was tried in 2012 and sentenced to death by the Criminal Court in Oran, along with nine members of a terrorist group; four of them absconded, including Belmokhtar.
Three of his accomplices were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in absentia.
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Five others, all of them from the state of Oran, were sentenced to eight years of imprisonment, while four were acquitted on lack of evidence.
The case dates back to April 2011 when the men planned to kidnap foreigners who were members of the construction team of Oran’s tramway.