An Algerian court of appeal on Sunday increased to seven years the prison term issued to a prominent media boss, but suspended two years, a watchdog said.
Issued on: 18/06/2023 -
The media boss Ihsane El Kadi in a screen grab from a video published online on March 31, 2021.
© Radio-M
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Ihsane El Kadi, 63, whose release had been sought by the European Union and international media, is one of the last independent media leaders in the North African nation. He is director of the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M.
He "was condemned to seven years in prison, including five behind bars with two suspended by the Alger Court of Appeal," North Africa representative for Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Khaled Drareni, said on Twitter.
"A totally incomprehensible verdict," he added.
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Ihsane El Kadi, 63, whose release had been sought by the European Union and international media, is one of the last independent media leaders in the North African nation. He is director of the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M.
He "was condemned to seven years in prison, including five behind bars with two suspended by the Alger Court of Appeal," North Africa representative for Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Khaled Drareni, said on Twitter.
"A totally incomprehensible verdict," he added.
Open letter calling for journalist's release
In April, El Kadi had been sentenced to five years for "foreign financing of his business", in a case denounced by rights groups, but he was effectively serving three years because two were suspended.
Seven years is the maximum penalty under an article in Algeria's penal code which criminalises anyone who receives "funds, a grant or otherwise... to carry out acts capable of undermining state security".
El Kadi has been in custody since December 29.
Algeria ranks 136th out of 180 countries and territories on RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
'Trumped-up'
The court has ordered the dissolution of the company Interface Medias, which is behind El Kadi's two outlets, and the confiscation of its assets. The company was also fined 10 million dinars (about $73,500), while El Kadi himself received a 700,000-dinar fine.
At the time of the April verdict his lawyer, Abdelghani Badi, told AFP that he would appeal, though the defence team boycotted that session over the "absence of just trial conditions".
In January, Amnesty International said the accusations against El Kadi were "trumped-up state security related offences".
"El Kadi's unjustified detention by the Algerian authorities... is yet another example of their ruthless campaign to silence voices of dissent through arbitrary detention and the closure of media outlets," said Amnesty's Amna Guellali.
Earlier that month, 16 international media figures including Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, called for his release and urged Algeria to lift "unacceptable" restrictions on his media outlets.
In response to a European Parliament resolution last month calling for El Kadi's "immediate and unconditional release", Algeria's legislature denounced "flagrant interference in the affairs of a sovereign country."
El Kadi had been sentenced in June last year to six months in prison but remained free at the time as a warrant was not issued for his arrest.
Less than two weeks after his April sentencing Algeria's parliament passed a law further restricting press freedom in the North African country by tightening media ownership rules and preventing journalists from protecting sources.
(AFP)
Algerian court sentences prominent journalist to 5 years
April 2, 2023 GMT
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A court in Algiers on Sunday sentenced a prominent journalist in the North African country to five years in prison with two years suspended and ordered his website and a radio station shut down based on the accusation that they threaten state security.
Ihsane El-Kadi was detained Dec. 23 at his home in the capital, Algiers. He was accused of receiving foreign funding for his outlets. He has remained in custody since his arrest and appeared in court on Sunday for the verdict, along with a collective of lawyers, defending him, journalists and family members.
The court also ordered El-Kadi to pay a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars ($5,200). The media company which owns El-Kadi’s website and radio station was ordered dissolved, its assets seized, and a fine of one million Algerian dinars ($7,390) was slapped on its owners.
El-Kadi, who was active in Algeria’s Hirak pro-democracy protest movement in 2019, appears to be the latest target of an encroaching crackdown on dissenting voices in the North African country.
His outlets were seen by many as outposts of free debate in Algerian media that provided journalists and opposition politicians a platform to point out contradictions or shortfalls in the government’s policies.
ALGIERS
Noted thinkers, writers and filmmakers call on Algeria to free jailed journalist seen as independent
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Algerian journalist jailed and his media offices shut down
The case against him is linked to the crowdfunding used to finance his media outlets, Maghreb Emergent and Webradio. The website and radio station operated in Algeria for years but did not have government recognition as official media organizations.
El-Kadi was accused of violating an article in the criminal code targeting anyone who receives funds aimed at “inciting acts susceptible to threaten state security,” stability or Algeria’s fundamental interests, his lawyers said before the verdict.
April 2, 2023 GMT
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A court in Algiers on Sunday sentenced a prominent journalist in the North African country to five years in prison with two years suspended and ordered his website and a radio station shut down based on the accusation that they threaten state security.
Ihsane El-Kadi was detained Dec. 23 at his home in the capital, Algiers. He was accused of receiving foreign funding for his outlets. He has remained in custody since his arrest and appeared in court on Sunday for the verdict, along with a collective of lawyers, defending him, journalists and family members.
The court also ordered El-Kadi to pay a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars ($5,200). The media company which owns El-Kadi’s website and radio station was ordered dissolved, its assets seized, and a fine of one million Algerian dinars ($7,390) was slapped on its owners.
El-Kadi, who was active in Algeria’s Hirak pro-democracy protest movement in 2019, appears to be the latest target of an encroaching crackdown on dissenting voices in the North African country.
His outlets were seen by many as outposts of free debate in Algerian media that provided journalists and opposition politicians a platform to point out contradictions or shortfalls in the government’s policies.
ALGIERS
Noted thinkers, writers and filmmakers call on Algeria to free jailed journalist seen as independent
Algeria dissolves pro-democracy group amid wider crackdown
Algerian journalist jailed and his media offices shut down
The case against him is linked to the crowdfunding used to finance his media outlets, Maghreb Emergent and Webradio. The website and radio station operated in Algeria for years but did not have government recognition as official media organizations.
El-Kadi was accused of violating an article in the criminal code targeting anyone who receives funds aimed at “inciting acts susceptible to threaten state security,” stability or Algeria’s fundamental interests, his lawyers said before the verdict.
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