Khaled Drareni was sentenced Monday to a sentence of three years in prison. A petition launched online by journalists and algerian calls for his release.
It became a symbol of the struggle for freedom of the press casino siteleri in Algeria. The calls to release the journalist Khaled Drareni have multiplied after his conviction Monday to a sentence of three years in prison. A petition launched online by journalists algerians had collected over 1750 signatures on Tuesday at the end of the day, among which are those of Louisette Ighilahriz, an emblematic figure of the independence war, according to the organizers, and the singer-songwriter folk Souad Massi.
“The place of Khaled Drareni is not in jail. We, the signatories of this petition, demand his immediate release and rehabilitation”, he wrote. The text condemns “the special treatment unbearable that undergoes the journalist Khaled Drareni”, stressing that it is “the jail sentence is the heaviest pronounced since Independence against a journalist for his work”.
“The hope turned therefore to the nightmare’
Khaled Drareni, aged 40 years, is the director of the information site Kasbah Tribune and a correspondent in Algeria for the French-language channel TV5 Monde and the NGO Reporters without borders (RSF). Detained since 29 march, he was sentenced Monday in Algiers to three years ‘ imprisonment and a heavy fine for “incitement to the gathering unarmed” and “undermining national unity”.
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He was pursued as a result of his coverage on march 7, in Algiers a manifestation of the “Hirak”, the popular uprising that has shaken Algeria for more than a year, until his suspension a few months ago due to the pandemic of Covid-19. The sentence has shocked his colleagues and algerian aroused strong protests of the defenders of the rights of the press and protection of journalists.
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The national Union of journalists algerian has “called for the release of our colleague Khaled Drareni”. “Hope turns therefore into a nightmare,” said its secretary-general, Kamel Amarni, in criticizing what it called a previous serious criminal act, and that does not bode well as to the real intentions of the power in relation to freedom of expression and the press in particular.”
A judgment “unacceptable”)
political Side, several representatives of the opposition have condemned a judgment “unacceptable” and denounced the abuses of freedoms. “The verdict inflicted on the journalist Khaled Drareni is heavy in meaning in the absence of will power to bow to the will of democratic change voiced by millions of Algerians and Algerians during a 13-month”, was considered the Pact for the democratic alternative (PAD), a coalition of anti-regime, in reference to the “Hirak”.
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Several titles of the daily press of algeria have expressed their outrage. Under the title “public opinion is outraged”, the daily El Watan refers to “a verdict is deemed unfair and intolerable,” a “black Monday” for the algerian press.
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another French-language newspaper, Freedom, evokes a “day of mourning that this Monday 10 August”. “In condemning Khaled Drareni to three years in prison, the power comes to renounce, in the most brutal, all pretense of justice and freedom,” stated an editorial in Liberty. Several events are planned overseas in the next few days to demand the release of the journalist.
