These shocking images show an innocent man wrongly accused of starting wildfires being beaten by a lynch mob of hundreds of Algerians who then burned him alive.
One local journalist called the killing of the victim “a barbaric act”, pointing out he was a peaceful artist who went to the area to provide aid to those battling the wildfires in the country’s north.
The victim, named as Jamal Bin Ismail, was killed in the town of Larbaa Nath Irathen in the northern Algerian province of Tizi Ouzou.
According to local media, Ismail had been wrongly arrested on suspicion of starting the fires and police had him in their patrol car to drive him to custody.
Instead, the car was surrounded by the mob, and he was dragged out of it by the crowd that were convinced he was responsible for starting the wildfires that have devastated the province.
The mob then reportedly beat the man and set his body ablaze on a public square.
Wildfires in the region, which has a large Berber population, have killed around 65 people including military personnel assigned to battle the flames.
Images of the victim being beaten and burned to death were widely shared on social media, and it was only later that he was identified as an artist from the town of Miliana.
His friends and family said he was a quiet man who travelled to the area to assist with the ongoing aid operations.
Local activists and human rights groups slammed the senseless murder of the artist.
Journalist Ahmed Hijab wrote: “Extrajudicial killing is a crime punishable by law, defaming a dead body is a crime in itself. As for taking away a suspect from the hands of the security forces, this is a flagrant violation of the (authority of) public forces that are required to protect the suspect until proven guilty.”
Hijab added: “What they did was a barbaric act.”
The local authorities suspect that arson was behind the fires raging across the north due to the number of blazes that started in a short period of time.
The police have reportedly made several arrests in connection with the alleged arson attacks, however, they have not released any names and it’s not known if anyone has yet been charged.
The lynching took place as Algeria suffers a period of political instability due to the ongoing socioeconomic crisis.
