Algerian freelance journalist Khaled Drareni was placed under arrest warrant Wednesday after his Algiers court indictment was quashed, vice president Said Salhi told AFP. Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH).
Initial reports had indicated that Mr. Drareni had been remanded in custody. “During the trial, the deposit warrant was issued. He is awaiting execution of the verdict, " said Salhi, who spoke to the reporter.
Read also: Algeria: the Hirak had to leave the street, without having defined its political future
Correspondent in Algeria of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the journalist was arrested on Saturday March 7 while he was covering the start of an anti-regime demonstration in Algiers. Accused of "inciting unarmed assembly and endangering the integrity of the national territory" , he was released on March 10 after three days in police custody. "It is truly an escalation of incomprehensible repression at a time when we need to empty prisons in the face of the contagion of the coronavirus," deplored Mr. Salhi.
The same Algiers court rejected on Wednesday the request for provisional release of Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two militants of "Hirak" - the unprecedented protest movement that has shaken Algerian power for thirteen months - arrested with Khaled Drareni on March 7.
Read also: In one year, the Algerian Hirak revolt went from hope to disillusionment
Finally, one of the first activists of "Hirak", Hadj Ghermoul, was sentenced on appeal by the Mascara court (north-west) to one year in prison suspended, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), a support association, on its Facebook page. He had been sentenced in the first instance to 18 months in prison for having broadcast videos "prejudicial to the national interest".
The judicial machine continues to rage in Algeria during the pandemic (21 dead and 302 officially confirmed cases): Karim Tabbou, popular figure of the protest movement, was sentenced on Tuesday to an increased sentence of one year in prison. dozens of people remain in detention as part of the protest movement, according to human rights organizations.
