In a country still in the throes of flames, Djamel Bensmail, a young man of 35, was arrested, wrongly accused of being an arsonist, before being lynched to death by an angry crowd in Larbaâ Nath Irathen, in Kabylia.
In flames, Algeria is now living under the shock of a particularly violent human tragedy. Accused by residents of trying to start a fire, a young man was lynched to death on Wednesday by an angry crowd in Larbaâ Nath Irathen, a martyred city of fire in Kabylia reports the daily El Watan. A video of unbearable violence has since toured social networks, sparking general outrage.
The facts date back to last Wednesday. That day, Djamel Bensmail, a young man suspected of having tried to light a fire near Larbaâ Nath Irathen, got into a police van. He was reportedly spotted by residents in a vehicle without a license plate, before being handed over to the security services, reports Algerian media TSA.
Later that day, as the police vehicle reached the courtyard of the police station, a white-hot crowd managed to extract the young man from the van, before giving him a series of beatings and burning him. Djamel Bensmail, 35, died instantly.
“I came to support my brothers”
But the following night, numerous testimonies on social networks poured in, reporting that the young man was an artist who had come from the neighbouring Miliana region to participate in the firefighting operations. Images emerge showing him facing the camera, calling for solidarity on a local television channel, the day before his lynching. “I arrived yesterday. I came to support my brothers. They gave me a lesson in solidarity, courage, and strength, ” he said in a video posted on social networks.
In the process, his particularly brutal death was condemned by many Algerians, denouncing a “barbaric act”. Djamel’s father, for his part, confirmed on Thursday the departure of his son for Kabylia to help put out the fires and appealed for calm. “We do not want disturbances He is your brother and he died a martyr,” he said in a statement filmed to the media.
An open investigation
The Ministry of Justice announced in a press release the opening of an investigation into the circumstances of this “heinous” crime, in order to identify the perpetrators of the lynching. For many, the face of Djamel, now displayed in local media and on social networks, alone symbolizes the foolishness of a country, tested by dozens of devastating fires and in search of a goat at all costs, emissary.
“You can understand the pain, the anger, the need for justice. But how did we come to this level of barbarism? Nothing can justify a crowd becoming judge and executioner. Nothing can excuse a lynching in public”, still laments on Twitter a journalist present on the spot.
