Algeria released around 30 prisoners of conscience on Friday, including journalist Khaled Drareni, a former correspondent for Europe 1 who spent eleven months in prison.
This symbol of press freedom in the country was on our air on Sunday to remind us that he would not stop his fight.
INTERVIEW
Journalist Khaled Drareni, who has become the symbol of the struggle for press freedom in Algeria, was released from prison on Friday evening along with about thirty prisoners of conscience, thanks to a presidential pardon.
Convicted in particular for attacking national unity, he had been imprisoned for 11 months.
At the microphone of Europe 1 Sunday, he assured that he was going "very well" and that he would continue his fight for freedom: "For me, journalism is the duty to inform. And I feel this duty ", he explains.
"Being a journalist is the only thing I know how to do"
“Sometimes I said to myself: 'my place is not in prison'. And sometimes I said to myself 'maybe your place is in prison, precisely because you are doing your job' [...]. I accepted this ordeal with a lot of serenity, even though I knew that deep down, my place was not there ", testifies the Algerian journalist.
Released, he assures that his fight for press freedom in the country is not over: "It's the only thing I know how to do, be a journalist. For me, journalism is the duty of inform. And I feel this duty. I will continue to do my work as a freelance journalist and I will continue to fight for press freedom in Algeria ".
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"I am not a politician, I leave politics to politicians and I take care of this fight which is already important and which is monumental", adds Khaled Drareni, who knows that this fight is not simple and that it could lead to further arrests.
"I will continue to do it the same way I have been doing it from the start, and it is the risks of journalism that I intend to accept."
"I have always kept hope"
In September, he was sentenced to two years in prison on appeal.
"At no time did I lose hope, even though I suffered like a slap in the face of these two verdicts, that of August 10 and that of September 15. I have always kept hope, in those who support me, in those who love me. I just waited for the weeks, the months to pass. It was long, but I was convinced that salvation will come one day. It will have lasted eleven months. "
If Khaled Drareni was not able to follow the mobilization that has grown around his case live, "since my only source of information was the 8 p.m. newspaper on public television", he recalls. he was informed of it through his lawyers.
"I knew there was an exceptional wave of mobilization and that's what warms our hearts. And as I said yesterday and today, this support is proof of our innocence."