ALGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERS

the Algiers criminal court in Algeria sentenced Mohamed Benziane to death for assassinations, membership in an armed terrorist group and possession of weapons of war. Mohamed had already been convicted twice in absentia and sentenced to death for participation in massacres.
The defendant was arrested in December 2004, weapons in hand, during an operation by security forces. 
He was convicted on charges including having killed three communal guards, and have participated in a 1999 massacre in the Chlef region where more than 50 civilians had been killed.