Anger roars. Calls for the release of journalist Khaled Drareni, who has become a symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, have multiplied the day after his conviction to a three-year prison sentence.
A petition launched online by Algerian journalists had collected more than 1,020 signatures Tuesday at midday, including that of Louisette Ighilahriz, an emblematic figure of the war of independence, according to organizers. “Khaled Drareni's place is not in prison. We, the signatories of this petition, demand his immediate release and rehabilitation ”, it is written.
The text denounces "the unbearable special treatment suffered by journalist Khaled Drareni", stressing that it is "the heaviest prison sentence handed down since independence against a journalist for his work".
Three years' imprisonment and a heavy fine
Khaled Drareni, 40, is director of the Casbah Tribune news site and correspondent in Algeria for the French-speaking channel TV5 Monde and the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Imprisoned since March 29, he was sentenced Monday in Algiers to three years imprisonment and a heavy fine for "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity".
Khaled Drareni was prosecuted following his coverage on March 7 in Algiers of a demonstration of "Hirak", the popular uprising that rocked Algeria for more than a year until his suspension a few months ago in due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sentence shocked his Algerian colleagues and sparked strong protests from defenders of press rights and the protection of journalists.
"So hope turns into a nightmare"
The National Union of Algerian Journalists "demanded the release of our colleague Khaled Drareni". "Hope therefore turns into a nightmare", deplores its secretary general, Kamel Amarni, by criticizing "a serious precedent, condemnable and which does not bode well as to the real intentions of the power with regard to freedom of expression and the press in particular ”.
Under the title "Public opinion is scandalized", the daily El Watan evokes "a verdict deemed unfair and unjust", a "black Monday" for the Algerian press. Another French-language newspaper, Liberté , evokes a "day of mourning that Monday, August 10". "By condemning Khaled Drareni to three years in prison, the government has just renounced, in the most brutal way, any claim to justice and freedom," said an editorial in Liberté .
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