With the heavy sentence of journalist Khaled Drareni, the Algerian regime shows the muscles

The verdict caught everyone off guard. "Immoral", "Terrifying", "Cruel" ... The indignant reactions of journalists and defenders of freedom of expression have been cascading in Algeria since the sentencing to three years in prison on Monday August 10 of journalist Khaled Drareni. Director of the online news site Casbah Tribune and correspondent for TV5 Monde and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), he was accused of "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity", in connection with his coverage of "Hirak", the popular movement that rocked Algeria for over a year. Such a sentence was not expected by his colleagues, many of whom, shocked, called for his release. A petition to this effect, signed by hundreds of people including many journalists, has been posted on the Casbah Tribune.

Khaled Drareni sentenced to 3 years in prison
RIP, justice of my country!
I would have liked to know you dead than to see you so weak, cowardly, unworthy
This August 10, 2020, a terrible earthquake of immorality blew the court of Sidi M'hamed
Liberté for Khaled Drareni! pic.twitter.com/14l2I9H8OT

"Khalid Drareni's file really resembles a relentlessness that revolts us because the file is empty, indignant Saïd Salhi, vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights. charges are unfounded. He was prosecuted for his work as a journalist, for his opinions, there is no reason why he should be in prison. It is a signal sent not only to journalists but also to all dissenting voices, free. It is a huge snub for freedom of expression in Algeria but also for justice. "

In the crosshairs

With his athletic physique, his outspokenness and his sometimes virulent criticisms of the regime, Khaled Drareni, 40, in 2019 became very popular with supporters of the "Hirak", especially among young Algerians. He contributed, including through his interventions on TV5 Monde, to inform about the mobilization for a change of regime, from a country with very few foreign media correspondents.

Very active and very followed on social networks until his arrest and incarceration on March 29 near Algiers, the journalist has 147,000 followers on Twitter, which gave him considerable power and placed him de facto in the authorities' collimator. During the hearing, he was notably accused of having criticized the political system on his Facebook account and of having relayed the press release of a coalition of political parties in favor of a general strike, says RSF. During his trial, the journalist had assured that he had only done his "job as a freelance journalist", and exercised "his right to inform".

FR NW GRAB DELOIRE

"Legally, the new constitution adopted in 2016 protects freedom of the press, and you cannot be detained for a press offense. So, what he was accused of was to have incited people to demonstrate by its coverage of demonstrations, "Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF, told France 24. "What is really heartbreaking is that President Tebboune, when he took office in December 2019, called for a new, more democratic and open Algeria."

Fifty-five "prisoners of conscience" imprisoned

Algerian justice has increased in recent months the legal proceedings and convictions of "Hirak" activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers, despite the suspension of the movement since mid-March due to the Covid epidemic -19. Some journalists have been accused by the regime of sowing discord, threatening the national interest or being in the pay of "foreign parties". Several are in prison, such as journalist Toubal Ali Djamel, sentenced on July 14 on appeal to 15 months for his Facebook posts, and summons by the police are commonplace. According to a count by the National Committee for the Release of Prisoners (CNLD), 55 "prisoners of conscience" are still in prison, most of them for Facebook posts.

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"Algeria, a pioneer in terms of free expression and the press in the region for three decades, cannot afford to renounce these gains so dearly wrested by generations of journalists and activists, at the cost of enormous sacrifices and years of struggle against arbitrariness, obscurantism, authoritarianism and terrorism ", deplores the secretary general of the National Union of Journalists Kamel Amarni in a press release issued after the conviction of Khaled Drareni.

"He was also an activist for democracy"

Other journalists, including the writer Abed Charef, highlight the activism of Khalid Drareni, beyond his work as a journalist, and are surprised that this aspect is not highlighted. "Khaled Drareni was not condemned for having just done his job, as many who claim to defend him say. He was also an activist for democracy, freedoms, for a new order. Deny the militant aspect that he is 'he deployed in his work is inadmissible, and demeaning to him. "

For Khaled Drareni Khaled Drareni was sentenced Monday, August 10, 2020 to a three-year prison term ...

"Khalid was very committed, he was in the enthusiasm of the movement," says an Algerian journalist based in Algiers preferring to remain anonymous. Shocked by Monday's conviction, he too points out that Khalid Drareni's work stood on the border between journalism and activism, a dangerous game in the current political context. "The condemnation comes in a very tense climate within power. The regime is very paranoid, you have to be very careful about what you say, stay in deontology and objectivity. What I blamed it on is to work both for a foreign media, and to be insulting, to call some people traitors to the nation.

According to this journalist, who admits to having been himself summoned by the police on numerous occasions, freedom of expression is no more in danger than before in Algeria with this sentence, which rather illustrates the imperative need to remain objective to avoid jail. "We can work, even if it is not easy. We have to force the deal. The system does not play the game, it is up to us to do it and to be irreproachable."

"Khalid Drareni found himself in spite of himself a symbol, a window of 'Hirak' on the international, explains Luis Martinez, specialist in Algeria at Ceri-Sciences-Po. He sinned by excess of enthusiasm and will change and carried the movement, certain that the regime would be brought down. But the political forces are still there. They want to show that the page of the presidential transition of 2019 is turned. The regime is sending the message to Algerians who 'being a journalist for a French channel or an NGO does not cover anything, does not allow you to say what you want. "

Algeria is in 146th place (out of 180) in the 2020 world press freedom ranking established by RSF. It has lost 27 places in five years.     

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