Algeria: journalist Khaled Drareni released from prison
Journalist Khaled Drareni in Algiers on March 10, 2020. AP
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Journalist Khaled Drareni, who has become the symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria, was released Friday evening the day after the announcement of a presidential pardon in favor of dozens of prisoners of conscience, we have learned from his lawyer.
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More than 30 prisoners of conscience in Algeria, including journalist and activist Khaled Drareni, were released on Friday following a presidential pardon granted three days before the 2nd anniversary of the popular uprising in Hirak.
"
He is free,
" Abdelaghani Badi, one of the lawyers for the correspondent in Algeria for the TV5 Monde channel and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told AFP, adding that it was a measure of “
provisional release
”.
The 40-year-old journalist appeared in social media footage upon his release from prison, carried by crowds of supporters.
Khaled Drareni is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on February 25 on his cassation appeal.
It's a great joy because I got to know Khaled a few years ago and he interviewed me on his own show so he became like a friend, a little brother.
Aouicha Bahkti, lawyer for Khaled Drareni
Opponent Rachid Nekkaz, 47, was also released, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).
Incarcerated in the prison of El Bayadh (southwest), he had started a hunger strike during the day to protest against his prolonged detention, without trial, despite the deterioration of his state of health according to those around him.
“
A total of 33 people have been released so far.
The procedures are underway for the rest,
”said a statement from the Ministry of Justice without specifying their names.
Photos and videos relayed on social networks showed detainees reuniting with their relatives in several regions including that of Koléa west of Algiers, where families and journalists waited all day for the release of the prisoners.
"
We want the
(presidential)
pardon to
be a first step towards a real political transition where the people will be sovereign,
" said lawyer Badi in front of Koléa prison.
In
his speech to the nation on Thursday
, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said:
The
"blessed Hirak"
saved Algeria.
I decided to grant a presidential pardon
(...)
Between 55 and 60 people will join their families
”by this Friday evening.
(
With
AFP)
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Abdelmadjid Tebboune
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