Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni sentenced to three years in prison
Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni, who has been in custody since the end of March, was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison, Nouredine Benissad, the lawyer for his defence group, told the AFP news agency. This announcement follows a trial that many considered to be a test case for freedom of information and expression in Algeria. "This is a very harsh verdict for Khaled Drareni. Three years of hard work. We are shocked. The file is empty," said the lawyer, who is also president of the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADH).
On 3 August, the prosecutor had requested four years in prison for the director of the news website Casbah Tribune and the Algerian correspondent of the French TV channel Tv5 Monde and the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Drareni, the Algerian correspondent of the French TV channel TV5-Monde and a member of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) association, took a stand in favour of "Hirak", the protest movement that forced former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign.
At 40, Khaled Drareni is accused of "inciting an unarmed gathering" and "undermining national unity" after covering a March 7 demonstration in Algiers by "Hirak," the popular uprising that shook Algeria for more than a year until it was suspended a few months ago because of the pandemic. Imprisoned since 29 March in Kolea prison near Algiers, he was tried along with two "Hirak" figures, Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, who have been sentenced to two years in prison (four months unconditional).
On the same charges, the latter two were granted provisional release on 2 July, while Drareni remained in prison. During the video conference hearing, in which he appeared thinner, Khaled Drareni rejected all the charges against him. He claimed that he had only done his "work as a freelance journalist" and had exercised "his right to inform". During the trial, he was accused of having criticized the political system on Facebook and of having published the communiqué of a coalition of political parties in favour of a general strike, according to RSF.
"The Algerian authorities must release Khaled Drareni immediately and unconditionally, especially as there is no evidence that he has done anything other than his work as a journalist," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based NGO, said in a statement. The French-language daily El Watan had described the announcement of the verdict as "an important test for the current political and judicial power". "Either it shows a clear desire to open a new era of political calm or it remains stuck in the current bad state, whose main mark is the attack on freedom of expression," the newspaper said in a recent editorial.
"If Khaled Drareni is not freed and released in the coming weeks, we will work to inform public opinion of the reality of repression in Algeria and to mobilize international organizations and governments," RWB promised before the verdict. "This decision raises the heart and mind because of its arbitrary, absurd and violent nature. #FreeKhaled #FreeKhaledDrareni," tweeted RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire, punishing "justice to order" and "judicial persecution.
In recent months, the Algerian judiciary has increased the number of prosecutions and convictions of activists linked to the "Hirak", political opponents, journalists and bloggers. Some journalists have been accused by the regime of sowing discord, threatening the national interest and being in the pay of "foreign parties". Algeria is ranked 146th (out of 180) in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index. It has dropped five places compared to 2019 (141) and 27 places compared to 2015 (119).