ALGERIA: REZAG BARA CALLS FOR DEFINITELY ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY

Algerian President Bouteflika’s advisor in charge of Human Rights, Rezag Bara, wanted an ultimate decision to be made concerning the death penalty in Algeria. He proposed jail sentences of 30 years as an alternative. At the margin of a conference on human rights held at the headquarters of the Human Rights Advisory Commission, Razak Bara indicated that judicial authorities have suspended death penalty rulings, following an instruction issued in 1993, however courts have persisted in issuing death sentences. He called for a final decision to be made. Bara also called on judicial authorities to remove "the special cells" reserved for prisoners serving death sentences.