The director of Algerian broadcaster Radio M and news site Maghreb Emergent Ihsane El-Kadi, arrested on Friday, was formally remanded in custody on Thursday (December 29), the media he runs said. Mr El-Kadi is being prosecuted on the basis of Articles of the Criminal Code relating to publications and donations, according to Maghreb Emergent, which says its director is being prosecuted specifically under Article 95 bis.
This text provides for a term of imprisonment of five to seven years for “anyone who receives funds, gifts or benefits … to undertake or incite acts likely to undermine the security of the State, the stability and the normal functioning of its.” institutions, national unity, territorial integrity, the fundamental interests of Algeria or public security and order”.
Mr El-Kadi was brought before the prosecutor “in the absence of his lawyers, who were not notified,” Radio M.
wave of solidarity
According to the media, the day after Mr. El-Kadi was arrested, the headquarters of the Interface Media agency, which publishes Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, was sealed and the equipment was confiscated. The arrest of Mr. El-Kadi and the sealing of the media offices he managed triggered a wave of solidarity among his colleagues and human rights activists in Algeria and Europe. An online petition calling for his release has garnered nearly 800 signatures.
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In response to his pre-trial detention, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) viewed this action as “the culmination of a long prosecution and endless judicial harassment, the apparent aim of which is to silence one of the last Algerian media outlets open to free debate and criticism.” “.
“In deciding to arrest Ihsane El-Kadi, the authorities have clearly chosen to go to the extremes of their authoritarian logic to silence the media and send a heavy message to those who continue to defend freedom of information.” defend,” said Khaled Drareni, RSF representative in North Africa.
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Charged with a press article, Mr El-Kadi was sentenced in June to six months in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal but not accompanied by an arrest warrant. He was tried following a complaint by former communications minister Ammar Belhimer over an article published on the Radio M website about the Islamist movement Rachad, classified as a terrorist organization in Algeria, and the pro-democracy Hirak. For RSF, Mr. El-Kadi “undoubtedly pays the price for his articles critical of the authorities and for the independence of the media he directs”.
Algeria is ranked 134 (out of 180) in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index compiled by RSF.
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