Algerian journalist Moncef Aït Kaci, France 24 correspondent until recently, was arrested, the channel said on Tuesday. An arrest that raises the concern of Reporter Without Borders about an "increased repression of press freedom in Algeria".
"We learned of the arrest of journalist Moncef Aït Kaci in Algeria, correspondent for France 24 until recently," France 24 explained in its newscast. "His lawyer did not specify the reasons for his arrest, but simply said that the charges against him are serious," said the channel.
Remanded in custody
The Algerian journalist was presented before the prosecutor of the court of Bir Mourad Raïs, in Algiers, in the company of a cameraman, Ramdane Rahmouni, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), an association supporting prisoners of opinion. They were remanded in custody.
The facts alleged against Moncef Aït Kaci were not detailed, but according to his defense, it would be an accreditation problem. It is mandatory to be accredited with the authorities to work as a foreign media correspondent in Algeria. No accreditation has been issued for local French media correspondents, including AFP, for 2020.
"On July 1, 2020, my employers (France 24) decided to end their collaboration with me as a correspondent, because I was no longer working in the field, because precisely I respected the instructions", wrote before his arrest Moncef Aït Kaci in a letter published on the online information site Casbah Tribune.
"RSF is deeply worried"
His detention and that of his colleague aroused great emotion among their colleagues and triggered a wave of protest on social networks. "RSF is deeply concerned about the increased repression of press freedom in Algeria: the authorities are plunging into the infernal spiral of repression, where new arbitrary measures serve to mask the previous ones", lamented Reporters Without Borders (RSF ) in a tweet.
“After Khaled Drareni, our correspondent and that of TV5, imprisoned for four months and whose release we are calling for, it is the turn of two other journalists this evening to be placed in detention. Moncef Aït Kaci (…) and his colleague Ramdane Rahmouni are victims of the relentless repression of the authorities ”, denounced RSF.
Become the symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, Khaled Drareni, director of the Casbah Tribune site, in detention since the end of March, must be tried next Monday. He is accused of "inciting an unarmed assembly and attacking the integrity of the national territory" after having covered in early March in Algiers a demonstration by "Hirak", the popular anti-regime movement that shook Algeria for more than one year until his suspension due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
World
Investigative journalist violently assaulted in Bulgaria
Media
RSF calls "to protect journalists from religious intolerance", five years after the attack on "Charlie Hebdo"
- Hurry
- Journalist
- RSF
- Algeria
- Media