HIBAPRESS
In a move that reflects the Algerian regime's continued use of the judiciary to suppress freedom of expression, the Algiers Court of Appeal upheld the initial ruling against researcher and historian Mohamed El Amin Belghith, sentencing him to five years in prison, based on statements he made to Sky News Arabia, which the regime considered an affront to what it calls "national identity and the Amazigh component."
Fabricated accusations
The lawyer, Toufik Hichour, a member of the defense team, stated that the court only partially amended the sentence to three years in prison and two years suspended, without dropping the fabricated charges, stressing that the defense will exhaust all possible legal procedures to release his client, whether through parole or a request for a presidential pardon, which remains subject to the will of the President of the Republic.
The Dar El Beida Primary Court in the capital had previously convicted Belghith last July to five years in prison, after the Public Prosecution demanded a harsher sentence of up to seven years, based on vague charges related to "spreading hate speech and discrimination through the media," "spreading false news that harms public order," and "undermining national unity," which are charges often used to silence critical voices within Algeria.
The Algerian regime's intimidation of researchers and thinkers
The case, which sparked a wave of condemnation in academic and media circles, dates back to last March when Sky News Arabia broadcast an interview with Belghith in which he discussed the Amazigh identity from a historically controversial angle, which the authorities considered a pretext to criminalize him and imprison him, in a clear violation of freedom of opinion guaranteed by international covenants.
Observers confirm that the new ruling falls within the policy of intimidation pursued by the Algerian regime against thinkers and researchers, at a time when voices are increasing demanding the release of all prisoners of opinion and an end to the politicization of the judiciary and its use as a tool to silence opponents.
