Algiers (AFP)

In pre-trial detention since the end of March, Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni will be determined on Monday when the verdict of his trial will be announced for "undermining national unity".

This is a test for freedom of information and expression in Algeria, according to associations for the defense of press rights and the protection of journalists.

The verdict should be delivered in the course of the morning by the court of Sidi M'hamed in Algiers.

On August 3, the prosecutor requested four years in prison against the director of the online news site Casbah Tribune, who is also a correspondent in Algeria for the French television channel Tv5 Monde and for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF ).

40-year-old Khaled Drareni is accused of "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity" after covering on March 7 in Algiers a demonstration of "Hirak", the popular uprising that rocked Algeria for more than a year until its suspension a few months ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Incarcerated since March 29 at the Kolea penitentiary center, near Algiers, he was tried in the company of two figures from the "Hirak", Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche.

On the same charges, the latter two were granted provisional release on 2 July, while Mr. Drareni was kept in prison.

During the videoconference hearing, during which he appeared emaciated, Khaled Drareni dismissed the charges.

He said he had only done his "job as a freelance journalist" and exercised "his right to inform".

During the trial, he was accused of having criticized the political system on Facebook and of having published a statement by a coalition of political parties in favor of a general strike, according to RSF.

- "Authoritarian drift" -

Calls to release the journalist have multiplied in recent weeks.

"The Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Khaled Drareni, especially since there is no evidence that he did anything other than his profession as a journalist," the Committee for the Protection of Journalists pleaded in a statement. (CPJ), NGO based in the United States.

For RSF, which is leading an international campaign in its favor, "a sentence of imprisonment would be proof of an authoritarian drift by Algerian power".

"It would confirm that the Algerian authorities have turned their backs on the ideals of independence of the country," said RSF.

The verdict will be "a major test for the current politico-judicial power", according to the French-language daily El Watan.

"Either he shows a frank desire to open a new era of political appeasement, or he remains frozen in the current bad status quo, the main mark of which is the attack on freedom of expression," said the newspaper in a recent editorial.

Algerian justice has increased the number of legal proceedings and convictions of "Hirak" activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.

Some journalists have been accused of sowing discord, threatening the national interest and being in the pay of "foreign parties".

Several are in prison and trials are underway.

Abdelkrim Zeghileche, activist of the "Hirak" and director of an Algerian radio station broadcast on the Internet, Radio-Sarbacane, was again imprisoned on June 24 in Constantine (north-east).

Another journalist close to "Hirak", Ali Djamel Toubal, correspondent for the private media group Ennahar, was sentenced on July 14 to 15 months in prison by the Mascara court of appeal (north-west) for having notably Released footage showing police manhandling anti-regime protesters.

Also behind bars, Belkacem Djir, journalist for the private news channel Echourouk News, was sentenced on June 28 to three years in prison in a common law case related to his investigative work.

Algeria is in 146th place (out of 180) in the 2020 world press freedom ranking established by RSF. She lost five places compared to 2019 (141st) and 27 compared to 2015 (119th).

© 2020 AFP