Algeria: 4,000 repentant terrorists ask for general amnesty

About 4,000 armed activists who benefited from the law on the National Reconciliation submitted 14 requests to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika asking him to treat the issue of the “tragedy victims.”

• The requests come as part of a new initiative taken by repentant terrorists to complete the initiative of former leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) Hassan Hattab.
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• The initiative was signed by 8 provinces: Algiers, Bouira, Blida, Boumerdes, Jijel, Ghelizane, Setif, Tizi Ouzou.
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• The armed activists asked authorities to rely on repentant terrorists’ testimonies to obtain death certificates for killed terrorists.
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• They also ask for reintegrating dismissed repentant terrorists or compensate them. They said most of the dismissed activists get 9,000 DZ per year which is not sufficient to meet their necessary needs. On the other hand, the bonus is banned after 3 years.
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• The repentant activists want authorities to ban debts for those who benefited from bank loans before joining armed groups. They ask for unemployment compensation and reopening provincial offices to the national tragedy victims.
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• They also want authorities to change the name of death certificates of terrorists to death certificates of the national tragedy victims. They asked for bonus raise for widows and dead terrorists’ sons to 20,000 DZ from 10,000 DZ.
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• The repentant terrorists want that children born in mountains to be registered in the civil stat and get a monthly bonus. They also ask to free all the prisoners and compensate those who were jailed by mistake.
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• This initiative comes after the Algerian prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia said public authorities had no intention to release Islamist prisoners.