ALGERIA · JUSTICE · DRUGS
Key Facts
- —The country Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area and a major gas exporter. It has kept the death penalty in law but has observed a moratorium on executions since 1993.
- —What happened A criminal court in Algiers sentenced two men to death on Sunday 18 October for importing and trafficking 144 kg of synthetic drugs, about 235,000 ecstasy pills. It is the second death-penalty verdict under Algeria’s 2025 drug law.
- —The first case On Monday 5 October the same court sentenced nine people to death, six of them in absentia, over 113 kg of cocaine and more than 225,000 pregabalin pills.
- —The law Law 25-03 of 1 July 2025 allows the death penalty for major drug trafficking. A separate penal code amendment in force since 13 October makes forest arson and child abduction punishable by death.
- —Why it matters Algeria has kept a moratorium on executions since 1993, but it is widening the death penalty and its courts now impose it on drug networks. Ecstasy shipments have reached Algeria from French ports.
- —For US readers The US State Department rates Algeria at Level 2, exercise increased caution, due to terrorism and kidnapping. The drug law applies to foreigners as well as Algerians.
- —Still open It is not known whether these death sentences will be carried out. The two men can still appeal.
A criminal court in Algiers sentenced two men to death on Sunday 18 October 2026 for importing and trafficking 144 kg of synthetic drugs, the equivalent of about 235,000 ecstasy pills, Algeria’s state radio and the daily Echorouk reported, citing the Justice Ministry. It is the second time in two weeks that an Algerian court has imposed the death penalty under a tough drug law passed in July 2025.
The ruling matters beyond Algeria because the country has not carried out an execution since 1993, yet it has just widened the death penalty to new crimes in a change that Algerian media describe as reinstating executions. For foreign visitors and businesses, it shows how far Algiers is prepared to go against drug networks that bring in ecstasy from Europe and move large amounts of cocaine.
The first such verdict came on Monday 5 October, when the same court sentenced nine people to death over a cocaine case, as we reported in Algeria Hands Down First Death Sentences Under Its New Drug Law. Sunday’s ruling is the first death-penalty verdict in an ecstasy case.
What the Court Decided
The criminal court attached to the Algiers judicial council convicted the two men of illegally importing and trafficking synthetic drugs, according to state radio, and Echorouk identified them only by the initials N.R. and A.H. The verdict was based on Law 25-03 of 1 July 2025 on preventing drug use and suppressing illicit drug use and trafficking.
Echorouk reported that the case was heard by the first-instance criminal court of Dar El Beida in the capital and that the other defendants received sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to acquittal. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for all eight members of the network, the newspaper said.
The charges included importing, transporting, storing and holding psychotropic and synthetic drugs for sale within a transnational organised criminal group, with the aim of harming national security. The men were also tried for money laundering and for serious smuggling that endangers public health.
How the Case Began
Police in Algiers stopped a Seat Ateca with foreign licence plates near the Dekar forest in Dely Ibrahim on 11 August 2025 and found 4,965 ecstasy pills hidden behind the driver’s seat, according to the case file described by Echorouk. Officers then searched the family home of the second suspect in nearby Cheraga and seized 48 bags holding 140.6 kg of ecstasy, or 231,510 pills.
They also found 430 grams of cocaine and 13.07 million dinars in cash (about US$97,000), Echorouk reported. Dollar figures in this article use the Friday 16 October closing rate of 134.17 dinars per US dollar.
When the suspects were charged in 2025, prosecutors at the Sidi M’hamed court in Algiers said the group had eight members, two of whom were caught in the act, according to Algerian state radio. Three members were still at large at that time.
A Harder Line on Crime
Justice Minister Lotfi Boudjemaa told parliament in May 2025 that the drug situation was serious and that the state had decided it required activating the death penalty. The bill he defended also offered cash rewards to informants whose tips lead to results.
On 1 October 2026 the lower house of parliament, the People’s National Assembly (APN), passed a penal code amendment that the news site TSA described as reinstating executions. Law 26-13 of 12 October 2026 was published in the Official Journal on 13 October and imposes death for kidnapping a child, including cases involving torture, sexual assault or mutilation, and for deliberately setting fire to forests.
The authorities also announced in August that a military barracks in the Tanezrouft desert would become a prison for drug barons, TSA reported. Police in Bejaia had earlier seized about 700,000 ecstasy pills hidden in three cars that arrived from a French port in December 2025.
What It Means for US Readers
The drug law applies to anyone tried in Algeria, and the first death-penalty case included a Guinean national among the network’s members, TSA reported. One of the drugs in that case was pregabalin, a prescription nerve-pain medicine sold in the United States under the brand name Lyrica.
The US State Department rates Algeria at Level 2, exercise increased caution, due to terrorism and kidnapping, in an advisory updated on 25 August 2026. It tells Americans not to travel to rural areas within about 60 km of the borders with Libya, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.
American companies are active in Algeria’s energy sector, and Sonatrach’s chief executive met Occidental Petroleum’s chief executive in Houston on 16 October to discuss wider cooperation in the Berkine basin, Echorouk reported. Foreign staff and visitors working in Algeria fall under the same drug law as Algerians, with no exemption for nationality.
What Is Not Known
It is not known whether the death sentences in either drug case will be carried out, because no official statement has said whether Algeria’s 1993 moratorium on executions will end for drug crimes. The two men sentenced on Sunday can still appeal the first-instance verdict.
The names of the defendants, the origin of the ecstasy and the fate of the network members who were still at large in 2025 have not been made public. It is also unclear whether the six people sentenced in absentia on 5 October have been found.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the Algiers court decide on 18 October?
It sentenced two men to death for importing and trafficking 144 kg of synthetic drugs, about 235,000 ecstasy pills. Other defendants received sentences from 10 years in prison to acquittal.
Is this Algeria’s first death sentence for drugs?
No, it is the second death-penalty verdict under the July 2025 drug law. On 5 October the same court sentenced nine people to death in a cocaine case.
Does Algeria carry out executions?
Algeria has observed a moratorium on executions since 1993. A penal code amendment in force since 13 October makes arson and child abduction capital crimes, and officials have not said whether executions will resume.
Which law allows death sentences for drug trafficking?
Law 25-03 of 1 July 2025 on preventing drug use and suppressing illicit drug use and trafficking. During the debate in May 2025, the Justice Minister told parliament that the state needed to activate the death penalty.
What should American travellers know?
The State Department rates Algeria at Level 2 and warns against travel near its southern and eastern borders. Algeria’s drug laws apply to foreigners as well as Algerians.
Sources: Radio Algérie, new death sentences in drug trafficking cases at the Algiers criminal court, 18 October 2026, Echorouk, death sentences against defendants in drug trafficking cases, 18 October 2026, Echorouk, the judiciary strikes hard in a second death sentence for drug barons, 18 October 2026, TSA Algérie, two ecstasy traffickers sentenced to death, 19 October 2026, TSA Algérie, first death sentences for drug trafficking, 5 October 2026, El Bilad, first death sentences at the Algiers court, October 2026, TSA Algérie, Law 26-13 published in the Official Journal, 13 October 2026, TSA Algérie, APN adopts the penal code amendment, 1 October 2026, Echorouk English, Sonatrach and Occidental eye expanded cooperation in the Berkine basin, 18 October 2026, TSA Algérie, ecstasy in three cars from France seized at Bejaia, 26 December 2025, Radio Algérie, details of the dismantled drug network in Algiers, 2025, Echorouk, Justice Minister on the death penalty for drug barons, 14 May 2025, US State Department, Algeria travel advisory. All retrieved 19 October 2026.
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