Algeria: regime tracks opponents on social media

Text by: RFI Follow

In Algeria, Hirak activists continue to demand the release of all those arrested in connection with the protest movement. Several human rights organizations say that if the weekly marches have been suspended since March 20, due to the health situation linked to the coronavirus pandemic, pressure and arrests will continue.

Publicity

Since the beginning of the week, at least three people have been targeted by the Algerian authorities because of their publications on social networks. The sentences pronounced by the justice range up to 18 months in prison, for "  publications that may harm the national interest  " or "  contempt of the President of the Republic  ".

The organization Amnesty International notes an increase in pressures, since the beginning of the health crisis , via summons of activists or people active on Facebook, and not necessarily for new publications. The NGO also notes that the sentences seem more severe, the prison terms replacing those suspended.

The photo and the name of Walid Kechida circulate for example on social networks, in recent weeks. This young man of 25, a supporter of Hirak, has been detained in Setif since April 27, for having published memes, diverted images, notably mocking the authorities. He is accused of contempt of body and of offense to the President of the Republic. He faces up to five years in prison.

Several researchers and observers agree that the Algerian government has toughened the repression against opponents of the regime since the protests have been suspended . The National Committee for the Release of Detainees currently lists around sixty people incarcerated in connection with the Hirak.

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• Algeria
• Social media

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