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Algerian amnesty frees many militants

By wire services
Published March 3, 2006

ALGIERS, Algeria - Algeria will pardon or reduce the sentences of more than 2,000 convicted or suspected Islamic militants, the Justice Ministry said Thursday, forging ahead with a government effort to turn the page on a brutal insurgency.

Some 2,100 suspects will benefit from pardons or an end to legal proceedings they faced, Abdelkader Sahraoui, the ministry's chief of staff, said on state radio. Another 100 militants, convicted for severe crimes, will have their sentences reduced, he said.

The measures, which stem from a national reconciliation plan overwhelmingly approved in a September referendum, take effect immediately, Sahraoui said.

The news reports said pardons were limited to those accused of supporting or financing terrorism, and that an amnesty would not be offered to those who directly participated in attacks during the insurgency that left an estimated 150,000 dead.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - A court on Thursday approved the extradition of a key suspect in the torture killing of a Jewish man near Paris, officials said.

President Laurent Gbagbo must sign off on the court ruling allowing the transfer of Youssef Fofana to France, said Justice Ministry spokesman Youssouf Yeo.

Security forces arrested Fofana on Feb. 22 in an Abidjan suburb.

The Jewish man, 23-year-old Ilan Halimi, was held for three weeks and tortured after his Jan. 21 kidnapping. He was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks on Feb. 13 near railroad tracks south of Paris, and died on his way to a hospital.

French authorities have said that the multiethnic gang led by Fofana that kidnapped the mobile phone salesman was after money, reckoning that since he was a Jew, he had to be rich - or at least worth a big ransom.

BAIDOA, Somalia - An American working for UNICEF was released by his kidnappers Thursday, the country's prime minister said while promising to investigate a warlord's claim that another U.N. agency owed him money.

Robert McCarthy was abducted Wednesday in Afmadow, 260 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, U.N. officials said. He was in good health and in the care of U.N. officials, world body spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi said he spoke with the warlord responsible for abducting McCarthy. He said he received documents from the warlord that show the U.N. refugee agency is more than seven years behind on repaying a $200,000 debt.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - The leader of a banned Islamic militant group blamed for deadly bombings in Bangladesh surrendered Thursday after being cornered in his hideout by hundreds of security agents.

Faisal Alam, a government official, said a magistrate granted police 10 days to question Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the leader of Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh.

[Last modified March 3, 2006, 02:15:34]