A court in Algeria has imposed on Monday the death penalty on nine people, six of them in absentia, for crimes related to drug trafficking and money laundering, among other charges. These are the first capital sentences applied under a 2025 law on the consumption and trade of illicit substances, in a country that has not carried out executions since 1993.
The Penal Court of Algiers has issued this ruling against nine defendants for the crime of "importation, transportation, shipment, and storage of hard drugs and psychotropic substances for sale, as part of a criminal organization, with the aim of undermining national security and disturbing public order and safety."
In addition, the nine defendants, whose main accused is 22 years old, have been sentenced to the death penalty after being found guilty of "smuggling, identity theft, illegal immigration, illegal residence, and money laundering."
The case dates back to September 2025, when the Police seized 113 kilos of cocaine and 225,097 pregabalin tablets in the municipality of M'sila, in the north of the country. The stash was attributed to a network formed by around fifteen people, of which the now nine convicted were arrested, according to information from the Algerian newspaper "El Moudjahid."
In July 2025, the Algerian Parliament greenlit a regulation that provides for the death penalty if drug trafficking occurs in educational, health, or other public establishments.
Last Thursday, moreover, the Chamber approved a reform of the Penal Code that reinstates the death penalty for those found guilty of serious crimes such as the deliberate provocation of fires and the kidnapping of minors --which includes torture, sexual assault, or mutilation.