Ksentini calls for death penalty abolition, decriminalization of press laws violation

The chairman of the National Consultative Commission for the promotion of human rights Farouk Ksentini has called for the abolition of the death penalty and for the decriminalization of the press laws violation in Algeria.

• This call is contained in the commission’s annual human rights assessment report which is to be submitted shortly to the President of the Republic Abdellaziz Bouteflika.
• Farouk Ksentini said that the human rights situation in Algeria was steadily improving despite some lingering lapses which need to be shortly addressed as part of an overall strategy, he pointed out.
• He further called for a legislation overhaul paving the way for the scrapping of capital punishment and its replacement for criminal offenders by a life prison sentence.
• Farouk Ksentini also stressed the imperious necessity of decriminalizing the violation of press laws in Algeria by imposing a fine on failing journalists instead of a prison sentence as it is the case now.
• “Prisons are not made at all for journalists”, he stressed.
• Such a move, Ksentini said, will allow Algeria to keep abreast with the fast-evolving world environment.