AQIM chief among 11 sentenced to death

Leader of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Magreb (AQIM), Abdelmalek Droukdel, was among 11 defendants sentenced to death by an Algerian criminal court on Friday. The men were found guilty of several terrorism offences committed on Algerian soil, including the 2007 bombing of Constitutional Council headquarters in Ben Aknoun, and offices of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Hydra. The 11 individuals sentenced in court were named as: Abdelmalek Droukdel, Bakur Fouad, Bakur Yassin, Khoshan Joseph, Taher Yassin, Boudiaf Rabah, Burahan Kamal, Hayeba Rabah, Ghasemi Saleh, Gadabn Khamis and Abdul Momin Rashid. The court also sentenced Gzadra Ahmed and Minah Mustafa Kemal to 10 and three years in prison. The 13 defendants were charged with "joining a terrorist group operating inside and outside the country, deliberate murder with the use of explosives, and compromising the security and integrity of the national territory." The Attorney-General confirmed that "the terrorists killed 42 people in six separate incidents between 2006 and 2008."