Algiers (AFP)

Jailed for nearly six months, journalist Khaled Drareni, who has become the symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, was sentenced on appeal Tuesday to two years in prison, which means he remains in detention.

"Two years in prison for Drareni. We are going to appeal to the Supreme Court," one of his lawyers, Me Mustapha Bouchachi, told AFP.

In a tweet, the journalist's brother, Chekib Drareni, said he was "disgusted, shocked and disappointed by the court ruling which once again reinforces injustice in Algeria".

Lawyers, colleagues and relatives of Khaled Drareni hoped for a lenient judgment, if not an acquittal.

Mr. Drareni, 40, was sentenced on August 10 to three years' imprisonment for "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity".

When the appeal trial began a week ago, the prosecutor requested four years in prison against the founder of the online news site Casbah Tribune, who is also the correspondent in Algeria for the French television channel TV5. World and for Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"His continued detention is proof of the regime's confinement in a logic of absurd, unjust and violent repression," responded Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF, in a statement.

Detained since March 29, the journalist was arrested after covering a student demonstration in Algiers on March 7, as part of "Hirak", the peaceful protest movement born in February 2019 from an immense ras-le- bowl of Algerians who demand a profound change in the "system" in place since independence in 1962.

He is also accused of having criticized on Facebook "the corruption and money" of the political system, according to RSF.

- "Blind stubbornness" -

The Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer, spokesman for the government, further accuses the journalist of having worked without ever having had a professional press card, against the backdrop of allegations of being in the service of "foreign embassies".

"We are scandalized by the blind stubbornness of the Algerian judges who have just sentenced @khaleddrareni to 2 years in prison (on appeal)", protested Mr. Deloire, denouncing "an Algerian justice under orders".

Khaled Drareni was on trial in the company of Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two figures of "Hirak", the uprising that prompted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to leave in April 2019 and was suspended in mid-March 2020 due to the health crisis.

Under the same charges, MM.

Benlarbi and Hamitouche were sentenced to four months in prison.

Having already purged them, they came out free from the court of Algiers.

During the appeal trial, during which he appeared emaciated, Khaled Drareni categorically rejected the charges against him.

"I am a journalist and not a criminal. I only did my job," he pleaded.

- "Do not give up" -

The journalist is supported by an all-round solidarity campaign, in Algiers and abroad.

His support committees demand his "immediate and" unconditional "release because of his" particularly worrying "state of health, according to RSF.

Khaled Drareni's trial comes against a backdrop of increased repression against "Hirak" activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.

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

Several are in prison and trials are ongoing.

Algeria is in 146th place (out of 180) in the 2020 world press freedom ranking established by RSF.

According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), some 45 people are currently behind bars for facts related to the protest.

For Hakim Addad, an activist of the "Hirak", "it is important to continue the mobilization, including media pressure but also political so that (the authorities) understand that we will not give up".

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