Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is seeking reelection in the country’s presidential elections on 7 September, pardoned more than 8,000 prisoners to mark the country’s Independence Day of 5 July. The IFJ regrets that journalist El Kadi, who is 65 years old, was not included in the presidential decrees granting pardons and denounces that he has been unjustly jailed for 600 days.
El Kadi is a well-known journalist, the winner of the ‘Omar Ourtilane’ prize for press freedom in Algeria, and a long-standing defender of democratic freedoms in the country.
The journalist has been in custody since 29 December 2022. He is being prosecuted for alleged foreign funding for the purpose of political propaganda, in accordance with Article 95 bis of the Penal Code. This empowers courts to punish "with imprisonment from five to seven years and a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars (around USD 5,150), anyone who receives money, gifts, or benefits to carry out acts that are likely to harm state security”.
Algerian media organisations rely heavily on direct or indirect financial support from the government. As critical journalists and media are deprived from this support, the legal ban preventing media organisations from receiving international financial support aims at shutting down critical reporting in the country.
The court’s verdict ordered the dissolution of Interface Médias, a parent company of Radio M and Maghreb Emergent on June 13, 2024.
The journalist was sentenced by the Alger Court of Appeal to seven years in jail –five behind bars with two suspended – during an appeal hearing in June 2023. The court of appeal lengthened his prison sentence from five to seven years, after the journalist’s legal team appealed a court decision from April 2023.
In October 2023, the country’s Supreme Court rejected two appeals made by the journalist’s legal team, which likely were the last avenue to fight his conviction.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for El Kadi’s immediate and unconditional release. The IFJ has been campaigning for his release since his arrest on 24 December 2022.
The media outlets he founded and directed, Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, published an article, claiming that their critical reporting of Algerian President Tebboune’s second term and organisations affiliated with the popular movement opposing him were likely to be the reason for his arrest.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “Our colleague Ihsane El Kadi is a well-known Algerian journalist, who has been deprived of freedom for 600 days for simply doing his job. He should not spend another day in jail. Although El Kadi’s sentence of seven years in jail –five behind bars with two suspended – is final, we call on the Algerian authorities to review this case, which is a serious attack on press freedom and the journalist’s rights”.