Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune issued a presidential decree granting amnesty to about five thousand prisoners who passed their education and training certificates during the 2025-2026 academic year, at a time when questions were raised about the fate of a number of imprisoned activists, in light of the absence of any official announcement about the identities of the beneficiaries.
According to a statement from the Presidency, the decree includes prisoners who obtained an intermediate education certificate, a baccalaureate certificate, or a university degree during the 2025-2026 academic year, in addition to those who obtained certificates of success in various forms of vocational and craft training, and approximately five thousand prisoners will benefit from it.
The presidential decree, dated July 20, 2026, stipulates a full pardon for holders of general and university education certificates if their remaining sentence does not exceed 24 months. The sentence is reduced by 24 months if the remaining term exceeds two years but does not exceed 30 years. As for those holding vocational training certificates, they benefit from a full pardon if their remaining sentence does not exceed 20 months, or a reduction of 20 months if it exceeds that but does not exceed 30 years.
The decree also expanded the scope of the benefit to include some of those subject to parole, temporary detention for punishment, electronic monitoring, and community service, while placing restrictions that prevent repeated benefit or combining this pardon with another pardon issued on the same occasion.
In contrast, the decree included a wide list of crimes excluded from the amnesty, including terrorism and sabotage cases, crimes related to state security, receiving funds from abroad to harm state security, in addition to crimes of corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, drug crimes, murder, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking, smuggling, illegal speculation, forgery, as well as crimes of “spreading false and malicious news” that affect public security or public order, and a number of other crimes stipulated in Algerian legislation.
The issuance of the decree brought back to the forefront the case of activist Abla Qamari, who had obtained her baccalaureate degree during the last session while she was in prison, which made her name widely circulated as she might be among those benefiting from the pardon.
However, lawyer Fatiha Rouibi said that the Qamari family received confirmation from the penal institution in Biskra that they did not benefit from the pardon, either with regard to the two-year prison sentence, of which only two months remain, or with regard to another sentence of one year under a final ruling.
No details have yet been released that include the names of those benefiting from the pardon or clarify whether there are among them those convicted in public order cases or opinion cases, as described by human rights activists. This has left the door open for interpretation regarding how the decree will be applied to some of the cases of those being prosecuted.
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