A total of 31 demonstrators arrested Friday during the marches of the Hirak protest movement in Algeria were sentenced to prison terms, we learned on Monday, May 17 from the Algerian League for the Defense of the Rights of Male (LADDH).
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"Obviously, the authorities have decided to put an end to the peaceful Hirak
,
"
Saïd Salhi, vice-president of LADDH, told AFP. According to him,
"31 people, 23 in Sétif
(north-east)
and eight in Bab El Oued, in Algiers, were tried and sentenced to terms ranging from one year to 18 months in prison."
Thirteen other protesters arrested on Friday have been jailed pending trial which has been postponed to a later date, bringing the total number of protesters under committal to 44.
“This is the first time that we have seen such an escalation in judgments since June 2019,”
said Saïd Salhi. LADDH reported a thousand arrests across the country after Friday's protests.
In addition, the custody of journalist Kenza Khatto, also arrested on Friday, was again extended by 24 hours, according to her lawyers.
The journalist from Radio M station is to be presented Tuesday before the prosecutor of the Sidi M'hamed court in Algiers, this private online media close to the opposition said on its site.
Kenza Khatto was arrested by police in Algiers on Friday, along with a dozen reporters and press photographers, including AFP reporter Ryad Kramdi, as they prepared to cover the weekly Hirak march.
The reasons for his police custody are not known.
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With the early parliamentary elections on June 12 approaching, the regime appears determined to shatter the Hirak, targeting activists, opponents and independent journalists. Born in February 2019 from the popular rejection of a fifth term of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned shortly after, the Hirak calls for a radical change in the political “system” in place since independence in 1962.