Press boss Ihsane el-Kadi, prosecuted in Algeria for "foreign financing of his company", was sentenced Sunday (April 2nd) to five years in prison, including three years in prison, announced the court of Sidi M'Hamed in Algiers, which delivered its verdict in the presence of the accused.

The prosecutor's office had requested a five-year prison ban, with a ban on working for the same period against Ihsane el-Kadi, leader of one of Algeria's last remaining independent media groups, which includes Radio M and the Maghreb Emergent news site.

The court also ordered the dissolution of the company Interface Médias, publisher of the two media outlets led by Ihsane el-Kadi, the confiscation of all his seized property, and a fine of 10 million dinars (more than 68,000 euros) against his company.

The company was also ordered to compensate the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority (Arav) to the tune of one million dinars). Personally, he was fined 700,000 dinars.

"We will appeal this judgment within the required time, according to the prior agreement with our client," Abdelghani Badi, one of the defense lawyers, told AFP.

A petition launched

Imprisoned since 29 December, Ihsane el-Kadi was accused of "foreign financing of his company" under Article 95 bis of the penal code.

The bill provides for a prison sentence of five to seven years for "anyone who receives funds, a donation or a benefit... to perform or incite acts likely to undermine the security of the State, the stability and normal functioning of its institutions, national unity and territorial integrity".

Ihsane el-Kadi is suspected of "having received sums of money and privileges from persons and organizations in the country and abroad in order to engage in activities likely to undermine the security of the state and its stability," the Algiers court said at the time.

At the beginning of January, sixteen media bosses from various countries, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, met by RSF and called for his release and the lifting of "unacceptable" obstacles to his media.

Ihsane el-Kadi was remanded in custody on 29 December as part of an investigation for illegal fundraising and alleged endangering state security, after four days in police custody. The day after his arrest, the headquarters of the Interface Médias agency was sealed and the equipment seized.

The arrest of Ihsane el-Kadi and the sealing of the media offices he heads have sparked a wave of solidarity among his colleagues and human rights activists in Algeria and Europe. A petition launched by Reporters Without Borders to secure his release has garnered more than 10,000 signatures.

With AFP

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