Algeria jails former soldier for joining ‘terrorist group’

A court in Algeria yesterday convicted a former military man to five years in prison and fined him more than $2,000 on charges of “joining a terrorist group that commits acts against state security and national unity”.

Last week, a public prosecutor at the same court requested the five-year prison sentence against Mohamed Abdallah, a former member of the aviation units of the National Gendarmerie, who fled to Spain but was extradited to Algeria last August.

The Court of Bir Mourad Rais in Algiers also sentenced two defendants, Abdelkarim Benchama and Malik Riahi, to two years in jail and fined them $1,500 each in the same case.

Two weeks ago, the Algerian judiciary sentenced Mohamed Abdallah to six years imprisonment and fined him $700 after finding him guilty of charges of “publishing and promoting false information as well as distributing leaflets that would harm national interest as well as affect people’s private lives.”

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