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ALGERIA: DEATH SENTENCE IN ABSENTIA FOR QAEDA NORTH AFRICA CHIEF
March 13, 2012: An Algerian court sentenced the head of Al-Qaeda's north African offshoot to death in his absence for a string of 2007 attacks, including a deadly bombing at the prime minister's office.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), and eight co-defendants were sentenced to death for premeditated murder, membership of a terrorist group and attacks using explosives, said judge Tayeb Hillali of the court in Algiers.
They were among 18 people, nine of whom were absent, put on trial for three bomb attacks in Algiers in April 2007 that killed 20 people and wounded 222.
Droukdel, a 42-year-old engineer by training whose alias is Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud, is said to consider as his mentor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq killed by the US military in 2006.
He arrived at the head of what was then called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in 2004, muscling his way in by brutally eliminating rivals. The group has since changed its name.
The other eight people sentenced are Abdessalam Samir, Ait Said Salem, Ait Said Meziane, Ziani Said, Ghiatou Rabah, Chemini Toufic, Niche Djamel and Bou Djalki Abderrahmane.
Lawyers for the other nine accused have sought a adjournment of their trial. (Sources: AFP, 13/03/2012)
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