An Algerian court has sentenced prominent journalist Ihsane El Kadi to three years in prison for ‘foreign financing of his business,’ according to reports. El Kadi, who runs the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M, has been a vocal critic of the Algerian government and is regarded as one of the last independent media bosses in the North African country. The case has been widely criticised by rights groups, who have called on Algeria to lift restrictions on his media outlets. El Kadi had previously been handed a five-year sentence, of which two years are suspended. During the public hearing, the court in Algiers also ordered the dissolution of El Kadi’s company, Interface Medias, and the confiscation of its assets. The company was fined $73,500, while El Kadi was also fined.
El Kadi was remanded in December after being accused of ‘receiving sums of money and privileges from people and organisations inside the country and abroad in exchange for carrying out activities that could harm state security’. He had previously been sentenced in June 2022 to six months in prison but remained free as no warrant was issued for his arrest at the time. El Kadi’s lawyer said that his team had boycotted the hearing on Sunday due to the ‘absence of just trial conditions’ and that they plan to appeal the sentence.
The case has drawn criticism from international media figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov, who have called for El Kadi’s release. Amnesty International has described the accusations against El Kadi as ‘trumped-up state security related offences’ and has called his detention ‘unjustified’. Algeria ranks 134th out of 180 countries on Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
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