Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni was sentenced yesterday, Aug. 10, to three years in prison, convicted of inciting unauthorized demonstrations and attacking national unity. Drareni will also pay a fine of 50,000 dinars ($390). Two Hirak activists arrested with him — Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche — were sentenced to two years in jail each.
The ruling shocked many in Algeria and around the world. “It’s a very heavy verdict for Khaled Drareni. We are surprised,” Drareni’s lawyer and president of the Algerian League for Human Rights Nouredine Benissad told the press. Dozens of journalists and activists in the Hirak movement demonstrated outside the courthouse in Algiers, chanting “Free Drareni.” Many of them could not hide their emotions when Drareni’s lawyer came out of the courthouse to announce the verdict.
