Steam Control Alert from Algeria: 2,000 members of the Tiny Minority of Extremists go free. “Algeria Frees Militants in Mass Pardon,” from AP, with thanks to Looney Tunes:
ALGIERS, Algeria – Algeria freed a first group of Islamic militants Saturday after deciding to pardon or reduce sentences for more than 2,000 people detained during an insurgency in the 1990s.
Cries of joy rose up among families outside the two prisons on the outskirts of the capital, Algiers, when the prisoners were released.
As part of reconciliation efforts, the Justice Ministry announced this week that it would pardon or end legal proceedings for 2,100 convicted or suspected Islamic militants. Some 100 militants, convicted of more serious crimes, will have their sentences reduced.
The national reconciliation plan was overwhelmingly approved in a September referendum, an effort to turn the page on an insurgency that left 150,000 dead.