Algerian press boss Ihsane El-Kadi, quite critical of the government, was sentenced on Sunday April 2 to five years in prison, including three years in prison, announced the Sidi M'hamed court in Algiers, which delivered its verdict in presence of the accused.
The prosecution had requested five years in prison, accompanied by a ban on practicing for the same period against the leader of one of the last independent press groups in Algeria, which includes Radio M and the site of Emerging Maghreb information.
The court also pronounced the dissolution of the company Interface Médias, publisher of the two media managed by Mr. El-Kadi, the confiscation of all its seized assets, and a fine of 10 million dinars (more than 68,000 euros) against its business. The company was also ordered to compensate the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority (ARAV) for 1 million dinars (6,800 euros). Personally, he was ordered to pay a fine of 700,000 dinars (about 4,800 euros).
"We will appeal this judgment within the required timeframe, according to the prior agreement with our client", announced to Agence France-Presse Me Abdelghani Badi, one of the defense lawyers who boycotted the hearing.
Accused of being a foreign agent
Imprisoned since December 29, 2022, Mr. El-Kadi was charged with "foreign financing of his business", under article 95 bis of the Penal Code. This text provides for a prison sentence of five to seven years for "anyone who receives funds, a gift or a benefit ... to perform or incite to perform acts likely to undermine the security of the State, the stability and the normal functioning of its institutions, national unity, territorial integrity".
Mr. El-Kadi is suspected of "having received sums of money and privileges from people and organizations in the country and abroad in order to engage in activities likely to undermine the State security and stability," the Court of Algiers announced at the time.
At the beginning of January, sixteen press bosses from various countries, including the Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri Muratov, brought together by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), had called for his release and for the lifting of the "unacceptable" obstacles aimed at his media.
Mr. El-Kadi had been remanded in custody on December 29 as part of an investigation into illegal fundraising and alleged breach of state security, after four days in police custody. The day after his arrest, the headquarters of the Interface Media agency had been sealed and the equipment seized.
The arrest of Mr. El-Kadi and the sealing of the media offices he heads have sparked an outpouring of solidarity among his colleagues and human rights activists in Algeria and Europe. A petition launched by the organization RSF to obtain his release has collected more than 13,000 signatures.
