The Algerian journalist and human rights defender Hassan Bouras was placed in pre-trial detention this Sunday, notably for "
apologizing for terrorism
", we learned from one of his lawyers.
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Hassan Bouras has been charged with "
belonging to a terrorist organization, apologizing for terrorism, and conspiring against state security aimed at changing the system of governance,
" Abdelghani Badi told AFP.
The journalist, who was imprisoned after his hearing by an investigating judge of the Sidi Mhamed court in Algiers, is also being prosecuted for "
using technical and media means to enlist individuals against the authority of the State
", according to the lawyer.
"
Prisoner of conscience
"
The authorities arrested Hassan Bouras on September 6 and raided his home in El Bayadh (north-west), for unknown reasons, then denounced the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH), of which the journalist is a member. Hassan Bouras was sentenced to one year in prison in 2016 for having "
insulted a judge, a member of the public forces and a government body
".
The human rights organization Amnesty International then described Hassan Bouras as a "
prisoner of conscience
" and declared that he had been convicted "
for a video denouncing the corruption of local officials in the city of El Bayadh
". According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), around 200 people are in prison in connection with the pro-democracy protest movement Hirak which has shaken the country sporadically since 2019.
