The Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi, imprisoned since the end of 2022, was released on Friday the 1stAhem November thanks to a pardon granted by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the start of the war of independence (1954-1962), lawyers indicated.
“What happiness, Ihsane El Kadi is free! »one of his defenders, M., wrote on his Facebook page.my Noureddine Ahmine, publishing a photograph of the journalist, director of one of the last independent media groups in Algeria, returning home, surrounded by members of his family. “Ihsane El Kadi is finally among his own people. He rolled a 1Ahem November. The end of a nightmare »Lawyer Nabila Smail was also happy.
El Kadi was sentenced on appeal in June 2023 to seven years in prison, five of them, two more than in the first instance. In October 2023, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal, leaving his conviction final.
Wave of solidarity
The journalist, director of one of the last private press groups in Algeria (Interface Médias, which includes Radio M and the news site Emerging Maghreb) was prosecuted for “foreign financing of his company” with the aim of “engaging in activities that could undermine state security.”
His lawyers defended his innocence during the trial, pointing out that the sums had been paid by his daughter Tin Hinane, a London resident and shareholder in his media group, to settle arrears.
El Kadi’s arrest sparked a wave of solidarity among his colleagues and human rights activists in Algeria and Europe. A petition launched by the NGO Reporters Without Borders to obtain his release had collected more than 10,000 signatures.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune signed two presidential decrees granting pardons to more than 4,000 detainees. The first refers to people definitively convicted in cases of “common law” and the second of the matters of “disturbing public order”.
At least eleven other detainees, including well-known activists of the Hirak protest movement, were also released thanks to this pardon. Hirak broke out in February 2019, forcing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has since died, to resign two months later.
