Noureddine Ben Ysaad: “Over 700 Death Sentences Are Frozen, Must Be Canceled”

Algeria counted 27 death sentences last year, while the total number of death sentences that are currently registered reached 700, which were suspended, Noureddine Ben Ysaad, Head of the Algerian League for the Human Rights’ Defense said.

“There is a trend towards the abolition of the death penalty in Algeria”, he added, during a training workshop for journalists, that was organized by Algiers university Professor. Radouane Boudjemaa, and Amnesty International in Algeria on Monday, on the occasion of the International Day Against the Death Penalty, which coincides with October, 10 of each year, on the theme of “processing of information on the death penalty”.

“Many Islamic countries abolished the implementation of the death penalty, including Turkey, Djibouti, Senegal and Albania, while others have decided to freeze them, such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and other countries, which indicates they think to abolish this punishment”.

“A decline in death sentences in Algeria is recorded, in 2015 it reached 62, and in 2016 it reached 50, while in 2017 it reached 27”.

Amnesty International’s 2017 report included Algeria among the countries that do not apply the death penalty in practice, meaning the States that continue to apply the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder, but may be considered as belonging to States that do not actually apply the penalty, since no one has been executed in the last 10 years and since it is believed to have a well-established policy or practice of not carrying out executions, indicating a decrease in the number of death sentences, as it reached 27 in Algeria in 2017.

On the occasion of the International Day Against the Death Penalty, which coincides with October, 10, of each year, Amnesty International launched an awareness campaign on the abolition of the death penalty by broadcasting video clips on social media websites, in which human rights activists and academics talk about the abolition of the Death penalty.