Algiers (AFP)

The lawyers of the jailed Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni, who has become the symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, announced on Wednesday that they had lodged an appeal after his sentence to two years in prison.

"Khaled Drareni wants to go to cassation because he does not accept his sentence in the name of morality and ethics," said lawyer Zoubida Assoul, during a press conference of the journalist's support committee in Alger.

"We have appealed to the Court of Cassation. I would like the government to return to the path it is taking because it leads to more pressure and totalitarianism", added his colleague, Me Abdelghani Badi.

Jailed for nearly six months, Mr. Drareni, 40, was sentenced on appeal on September 15 to two years in prison for "inciting unarmed assembly" and "undermining national unity".

The severity of the sentence sparked indignation and anger in Algeria and beyond its borders.

Khaled Drareni is the founder of the Casbah Tribune news site, and the correspondent in Algeria for the French-speaking channel TV5 Monde and for Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

He was arrested after covering a student demonstration in Algiers on March 7, as part of the "Hirak", the peaceful protest movement born in February 2019 from an immense fed up with Algerians who demanded a deep change of the "system" in place since independence in 1962.

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

In addition, the Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer, spokesman for the government, accuses him of having worked without ever having had a professional press card, against the background of allegations of being in the service of "foreign embassies".

"If it is accreditation that is the problem in power, is it rational that a journalist should be imprisoned because he does not have accreditation from the Ministry of Communication? accreditation can lead to an accusation of attacking national unity? ”asked Me Badi on Wednesday.

During the appeal trial, Khaled Drareni dismissed the charges against him.

"I only did my job," he pleaded.

The journalist's support committees are calling for his “immediate and“ unconditional ”release because of his“ particularly worrying ”state of health, according to RSF.

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

© 2020 AFP