49 sentenced to die for lynching

FORTY-NINE people have been sentenced to die in Algeria for lynching an innocent ‘Good Samaritan’ painter, according to defence lawyers and a state news agency. Djamel Ben Ismail was dragged into the main square in the village of Larbaa Nath Irathen, and attacked by locals who wrongly accused him of starting wildfires. But the 38-year-old had actually travelled to the region to help battle the blazes of August 2021, tweeting he was going to “give a hand to our friends” fighting the flames.