In Algeria, a journalist charged and imprisoned for “apologia for terrorism”

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In Algeria, the journalist and human rights defender Hassan Bouras was placed in pre-trial detention on Sunday, September 12, in particular for “Apology for terrorism”, we learned from one of his lawyers.

Mr. Bouras was charged with“Membership of a terrorist organization, apology for terrorism, and conspiracy against state security to change the system of governance”lawyer Abdelghani Badi told AFP.

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The journalist, who was imprisoned after his hearing by an investigating judge at the Sidi M’Hamed court in Algiers, is also being prosecuted for “Use of technical and media means to enlist individuals against the authority of the State”, according to the lawyer.

The authorities arrested Mr. Bouras on September 6 and searched his home in El Bayadh (north-west), for unknown reasons, then denounced the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH), of which the journalist is a member. Mr. Bouras was sentenced to one year in prison in 2016 for having “Insulted a judge, a member of the public forces and a government organ”.

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The human rights organization Amnesty International then described Mr. Bouras as “Prisoner of conscience” and declared that he had been condemned “For a video denouncing the corruption of local officials in the city of El Bayadh”.

According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), around 200 people are in prison in connection with the pro-democracy protest movement Hirak, which has shaken the country sporadically since 2019.

The World with AFP

www.lemonde.fr

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