Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni, in pre-trial detention since the end of March after covering a Hirak demonstration, was sentenced Monday to three years in prison. "It is an arbitrary, absurd and extremely violent sentence", denounces, on Europe 1, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF. 

INTERVIEW

The verdict is in for Algerian freelance journalist Khaled Drareni. He was sentenced to three years in prison by the courts of his country, for "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity". Jailed since March 29 for his coverage of a "Hirak" demonstration, a popular uprising that rocked Algeria for more than a year, the 40-year-old journalist is director of the online news site Casbah Tribune, correspondent in Algeria for the French-speaking television channel TV5 Monde and for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). "It is an arbitrary, absurd and extremely violent sentence", denounces, on Europe 1, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF. 

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"A new page in repression"

"We do not understand why. Khaled Drareni loves his country, he is the son of a moudjahidin, he worked throughout his life as a journalist in Algeria, without ever launching the slightest call for a national split", continues Christophe Deloire . Khaled Drareni, a figure in Algerian journalism, notably presented the television news on a private channel or even investigative magazines. "He is a solar personality, very active on social networks," he continues. 

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The decision "shocked" Algeria and the defenders of press freedom, explains Zoubida Assoul, lawyer in the journalist's defense committee and president of the opposition Union for Change and Progress (UCP). "It is a new page in the repression, the attacks on freedoms which are enshrined in the Algerian constitution but it is also a downright threat against the entire independent press", underlines the lawyer.

"It is the condemnation of hope, of youth in Algeria, because Khaled Drareni represents this new generation of journalists, competent, honest", she adds, recalling that about twenty journalists had covered the same demonstration without undergoing identical judicial harassment. Indicted on the same charges, Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two figures in the anti-regime protest movement, each received two years in prison, including four months closed.

A call for international mobilization

The judgment, rendered by the court of first instance, leaves the possibility for the journalist's defense committee to appeal, or even to appeal to the Supreme Court. During his trial, Khaled Drareni denied all the charges against him. According to Zoubida Assoul, the magistrates even tried to "stick indictments that do not exist". In particular, he was asked about possible collaborations with foreign embassies. "It is really the hope that we want to kill in Algeria", she concludes. "We count on mobilization and solidarity with all defenders of press freedom."

Calls to release the journalist are increasing in Algeria and around the world. "An international support committee has been created, which is very important because we must pay close attention to Algeria's instrumentalization of accusations of colonialism," explains Christophe Deloire. "Algeria signed the pact on civil and political rights which implements the universal declaration of human rights. Algeria also has its own law, its constitution and in 2016, a new constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, ”he adds. "Today justice, when it condemns Khaled Drareni, it is in violation of the Algerian Constitution."

This very severe condemnation could weigh on Algeria's international reputation, especially since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had repeatedly recalled his commitment to press freedom, since his election last December. . The secretary general of RSF calls for the mobilizations of the States of the European Union, and of the European Union itself, to demand the release of the journalist.