Algeria's state prosecutor is demanding four years of prison for independent journalist Khaled Drareni. Drareni was arrested in the capital Algiers last March and has been kept in detention ever since. His trial opened on Aug. 3 and sentencing is expected in a week. Two activists are standing trial together with Drareni. Apart from imprisonment, the three also face heavy fines and being stripped of their civic rights.
Drareni, 40, has been working over the past few years for several media outlets, including the French TV Channel TV5 Monde. He has also run the local Sabah Tribune and served as correspondent for the global press freedom group Reporters Without Borders. He was very active on Twitter, with 146,00 followers. For the last year and a half he has been focusing on the demonstrations that led to the toppling of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019 and the demonstrations that followed against the replacing regime. The marches and demonstrations, organized by the Hirak movement, only came to a halt in March due to the coronavirus crisis.
