Overview
There is no HIV-specific criminal law in Algeria and there have been no reported cases of HIV criminalisation using the general law to date.
However, there has been one known court case relating to HIV in Algeria, which was reported in 2019. The case relates to a woman who underwent a caesarean section in 2016, and later tested HIV-positive, attributing transmission to a blood transfusion during the procedure. In December 2019, the Court of Mascara ruled that five medical personnel were guilty of ‘negligence and falsification of official documents’ relating to the case, and they were each sentenced to 18 months in prison and a fine of 10 million centimes. While this case involves HIV transmission, the criminalisation appears to arise from negligent medical practices, so is unlikely to apply in other cases.
