ALGERIA: MAGHREB'S AL-QAEDA LEADER, 25 OTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH

February 17, 2015: A court in Algeria issued death sentences against 26 people convicted of terror-related offences, among them Abou Musab Abdel Wudud, a man thought to be the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Wudud and 25 others were sentenced in absentia while one defendant, al-Adawi Walid, appeared in court to answer charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. 
Walid was arrested in 2011 by Algerian police, who said he was planning to carry out a suicide attack. During the trial, Walid gave up the names of his co-defendants before being found guilty, Algerian press reported. 
Wudud, 44, studied mathematics before taking up arms in 1996 as part of the Algerian Civil War, and allegedly carrying out attacks on Algerian army and police personnel throughout the 1990s. His group officially joined forces with al-Qaeda in 2007 and has been behind various raids and kidnappings. (Sources: middleeasteye.net, 18/02/2015)