Algiers – An Algerian police officer extradited from Spain was jailed for five years on Wednesday on charges of membership of a “terrorist group”, state media said.
Abdallah Mohamed was also fined around $2 200 by the court in Algiers after being found guilty of “belonging to a terrorist group which commits acts that harm state security and national unity”, the APS news agency said.
Spain had handed him over to Algerian authorities in August 2021 after the latter issued an international arrest warrant, accusing Mohamed of belonging to outlawed Islamist group Rashad.
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The former police officer had left Algeria secretly in 2018 and was among a batch of 30 migrants expelled by Spain, according to Algerian media reports.
Another Algerian, active in the “Hirak” protest movement who had fled the country before being sentenced in absentia to a decade behind bars, is also facing extradition from Spain.
Mohamed Benhalima, a former soldier, was arrested in mid-March and is being held in a detention centre in Valencia, according to a source with knowledge of the case.
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Rights group Amnesty International has demanded that Madrid “immediately” drop proceedings against Benhalima, who it says was simply a “whistle-blower”.
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Source: AFP
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