Algerians are due to elect a new president next month but a huge protest movement bitterly rejects the vote, fearing it will cement in power politicians close to the disgraced old guard.

An Algerian military court has sentenced the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and three co-defendants to 15 years in prison, the state APS news agency reported on Wednesday.

Eight babies were killed when a fire ripped through a maternity hospital in eastern Algeria before dawn on Tuesday, emergency services said.

Algerians launched an unprecedented protest movement in February, filling the streets of cities across the country and forcing the president out of office.

Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as "unacceptable" unrest following a key victory for Algeria's national football team. 

Algeria's former police chief Abdelghani Hamel has been placed in provisional detention over alleged "diversion of funds and illicit enrichment", state television said Friday.

A key backer of Algeria's former leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika and one of the country's top businessmen, Ali Haddad, was jailed for six months Monday for holding two passports, state television reported.

Haddad was arrested in late March on the border with Tunisia, in possession of two passports and undeclared currency, days before Bouteflika resigned in the face of mass protests.

Military chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah said Tuesday that those who oppose the army were "enemies of Algeria", as the country's protest movement demands an overhaul of the entire regime.

Algeria's former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal was remanded in custody Thursday after appearing before a judge as part of an anti-corruption investigation, state media reported.

Algeria is to investigate the death in custody of a prominent human rights activist, the country's justice ministry said.