Algeria’s appeals court has sentenced 38 people to death for the lynching of a man in 2021 who they falsely accused of starting wildfires.
The court found them guilty of multiple charges, including murder, torture, and incitement to murder.
Their sentences will be commuted to life in prison as Algeria has a moratorium on executions.
Djamel Ben Ismail, 38, was lynched after traveling to help fight wildfires in the Kabylie region, east of Algiers.
Locals accused him of starting the fires, before torturing and killing him.
The court acquitted 27 defendants and sentenced 29 others to terms ranging between three and 20 years.
An Algerian court sentenced 49 people to death for Ismail’s murder in November of last year.
However, Amnesty International criticized the mass sentences in January, saying that the trials “were marred by fair trial violations and torture claims, while at least six were prosecuted because of their political affiliations.”
The rights group demanded that sentences be overturned and retrials be held for “those convicted in their absence or prosecuted because of their political affiliations.”
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