Tunis (AFP)
Tunisian associations and organizations expressed their solidarity with Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni on Wednesday, sentenced by his country's courts to three years in prison, and called for his "immediate" and "unconditional" release.
Director of the Casbah Tribune news site and correspondent in Algeria for the TV5 Monde channel and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Khaled Drareni, 40, has been imprisoned since March 29. He was sentenced Monday to three years' imprisonment and a heavy fine for "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity".
More than 30 Tunisian NGOs, including the Association of Investigative Journalism, the National Union of Journalists and the Forum for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights, expressed in a statement their "growing concern at the repeated harassment, prosecution and the arrests of Algerian journalists, bloggers and activists ".
"This unjust verdict" is "based only on political considerations which aim to muzzle journalist Khaled Drareni and all critical journalists, bloggers and activists and to penalize freedom of expression and of the press in Algeria", they added. .
These NGOs called for his "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted release", saying that his imprisonment required "collective and common action".
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.
© 2020 AFP