Algiers (AFP)
Jailed for nearly six months, journalist Khaled Drareni, a symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, remains behind bars after his conviction Tuesday on appeal to two years in prison, which triggered an avalanche of protests from his supporters.
"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.
"I think today that we can no longer exercise journalism in Algeria. We are only in charge of communications for the regime," Lamine Mohamed Maghnine, a journalist told AFP.
"We are all in danger today. Journalists, lawyers, freedoms, Algerians are in danger," said lawyer Abdelghani Badi.
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).
- "Logic of repression" -
"His continued detention is proof of the regime's confinement in a logic of absurd, unfair and violent repression," responded Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF.
Detained since March 29, the journalist was arrested after covering on March 7 in Algiers a demonstration by students, as part of "Hirak", The peaceful popular uprising born in February 2019 from a huge fed up. Algerians who demand a change in the "system" in place since independence in 1962.
He is also accused of having denounced on Facebook "the corruption and money" of the political system, according to RSF.
The Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer also 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".
"Khaled was itchy? He is now a thorn in the side of the regime", wrote Mr. Deloire on Twitter, denouncing "an Algerian justice under orders".
Khaled Drareni was on trial along with Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two figures of the "Hirak", an unprecedented movement which shook the power until its suspension in mid-March 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.
"This judgment does not harm Khaled Drareni, it harms Algerian justice, the executive power, it harms the Ministry of Justice, magistrates and Algeria," commented Mr. Benlarbi.
- "Parody of justice" -
During the appeal trial, Khaled Drareni - whose state of health is "worrying", according to RSF - categorically rejected the charges against him.
"I am a journalist and not a criminal. I only did my job," he pleaded.
Some Algerian journalists have been accused by the regime of sowing discord, of threatening the national interest and above all of being in the pay of "foreign parties".
Several are in prison and trials are ongoing.
Algeria fell to 146th place (out of 180) in the 2020 world press freedom ranking established by RSF.
Khaled Drareni is supported by a campaign of solidarity in Algiers and abroad.
Criticizing "a travesty of justice", Amnesty International demanded "the immediate and unconditional release of Khaled Drareni and the other detainees".
His trial takes place against a backdrop of increased repression against "Hirak" activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.
According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), some 45 people are currently imprisoned for facts related to the protest, most of them for Facebook posts.
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