Algeria: death penalty for Al-Qaeda‘s coordinator and 12 years for his fellows

Criminal court of Boumerdes sentenced Al-Qaeda's coordinator to death while his fellows were sentenced to 12 years in prison after Attorney General had required 20 years prison for both of them.

• The coordinator who was in charge of making ties between various terrorist groups in Algeria is named “Saiud Samir” alias Abou Abdellah, 36, and comes from Lakhdaria village (120 km east of Algiers). He has been imprisoned for several times in terror-related cases before he benefited from provisions of the National Reconciliation in 1999.
• This case is considered as one of the biggest and serious cases before the criminal court of Boumerdes (50 km east of Algiers) because of the first suspect’s position at Al-Qaeda and his role in the process of support and coordination which he provided for the organization’s national leader and other provincial leaders.
• Some news reported that he was killed in Si Moustafa region on April 26th after a violent clash with the army troops following his refusal to stop before a security checkpoint. He was shot by security men then he miraculously survived after weeks of intensive hospital care. Security authorities did not care about his real identity, except that he was a terrorist trying to cross the security barriers.
• The second detained suspect “B.Hussein” confirmed Al-Qaeda coordinator’s identity after he had been arrested with the third suspect “Ch.Ahmed”. The case was postponed twice because of his presence in the penal institution of Blida.
• The case’s details, according to the file, is referred to June 29th 2006, when a Mercedes car carrying the terrorists Ch.Ahmed and B.Houcine was going to the east of Algeria and refused to stop before a security checkpoint in Tijellabine municipality. The terrorists were ordered by S.Samir to transfer arms and many other things to the fifth zone’s Emir in Batna province (east of Algeria) Abu Alhassan. He got in his turned orders by the leader Drudkel. When they saw the security checkpoint they tried to return back; what made the Gendarmerie forces stop them. They found a sum of money of 60 million centimes, a manual on how to manufacture explosives, weapons, a map showing road networks and three audio-visual tapes inciting terrorist acts.
• The terrorists admitted that they were tasked by the first accused S.Samir to deliver ammunition to the Emir in Batna province.  They also revealed the identity of the coordinator.
• Investigation which followed the arrest of the three suspects resulted in the elimination of more than 70 terrorists in many provinces after discovering their strongholds.
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