Casablanca Criminal Court delivers a verdict in the lynching of the late Jamal Ben Ismail.

The Casablanca Criminal Court delivered a verdict in the lynching of late Jamal Ben Ismail, imposing the death penalty on 49 defendants for “premeditated murder, torture, and incitement to it, as well as setting fire to fields.”

In August 2021, 38-year-old Ismail, a singer, traveled over 100 miles from his hometown to the Tizi Ouzou region to bring donations and aid in the fight against wildfires that had engulfed Algeria.

Jamal Ben Ismail was dragged from a police van and burned alive by a hysterical crowd after being accused of starting forest fires.

The 38-year-old man “voluntarily surrendered” at a police station in the hard-hit Tizi Ouzou region, according to the police chief, after learning he was suspected of involvement. In the town of Larbaa Nath Irathen, a mob surrounded a police van and beat a man inside.

They then dragged him out and set him on fire while others took selfies.

“On this day, 11/24/2022, the Algerian Judicial Council’s Public Prosecutor informs the public that the Criminal Court of First Instance for the same Council issued a preliminary criminal judgment in the case involving the late Jamal.”

The court sentenced 49 “defendants to death” after they were found guilty of premeditated murder. 17 of the 102 defendants were acquitted, while the rest were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 10 years.

According to the same source, the crimes also included “forming, establishing, and joining a group or organization aimed at committing acts of vandalism and misdemeanors, violently assaulting members of public forces, and spreading discrimination and hatred.”