Algeria: the end of the ordeal for Ismail Snabi?

Franco-Moroccan Ismail Snabi, one of the survivors of the Saidia tragedy, arrested and then sentenced in Algeria to one year and three months in prison for illegal entry into the territory and vehicle smuggling, when he had gotten lost on his jet-ski in the Algerian maritime area in the company of three other holidaymakers, will be released in November. He is serving his sentence in Tiaret prison.

Ismail Snabi will finish serving his sentence in November. According to the explanations of his lawyer, Hakim Chergui, quoted by Al3omkAlgerian authorities responded to the French authorities’ request to transfer his client and the procedure had already begun several months ago. However, any international transfer is generally done in two ways: in the event of a prior agreement between the two countries on the transfers, these are carried out automatically, but the absence of an agreement means that the Franco-Moroccan has to wait until November for the end of his sentence. In April, he was transferred from Maghnia prison to Tiaret prison. The Franco-Moroccan had been sentenced to three months in prison for illegal entry into the territory on August 30 and one year in prison for vehicle smuggling, for a total of 15 months in prison. His lawyer had argued for the sentences to be merged as required by law, but he was unsuccessful. “Initially, Ismaïl Snabi was sentenced by the Algerian courts to three months in prison for illegal entry and twelve months in prison for vehicle smuggling. The two sentences, totaling fifteen months, were not merged. No steps were taken to combine them, which would have reduced the prison sentence to one year. Since his incarceration, 7 months have passed, he has 8 months of detention left to serve,” explained last April the lawyer of the automobile technical inspector living with his family in Clichy-sous-Bois, in France.