Rabat – Several political leaders in Algeria have condemned the sentencing of Fethi Ghares, one of the founders of the Democratic and Social Movement (MDS), to two years in prison.
An Algiers-based court sentenced the leftist politician and activist on Sunday, January 10.
The verdict sparked anger in Algeria’s political landscape, with many political parties and civil society organizations denouncing a perceived political trial and Algeria’s growing lack of freedom of expression and justice.
TSA, an Algerian news outlet, quoted president of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) Mohcine Belabbas, who described the sentence as a “politico-judicial scandal.”
He said the conviction of Ghares will “reinforce the distrust of the Algerian people in the justice of our country.”
Ghares was sentenced for several charges, including the dissemination of publications that authorities felt hurt the national interest, and the sharing of information said to have undermined national unity.
The Front of Socialist Forces (FFS) denounced the verdict and the Algerian establishment’s increasing use of power to criminalize political action, saying it is a “terrible decline in the climate of individual and collective freedoms in our country.”
Zoubida Assoul, president of the Union for Change and Progress (UCP), also condemned the sentence, accusing the government of attempting to break the opposition.
“The conviction of Fethi Ghares to 2 years in prison is proof of the instrumentalization of the judiciary by the political power to break down the opposition, but also a sign of the fragility of the system in place,” she said.
Algeria has been facing intense criticism for a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting activists and dissidents, as well as the lack of meaningful political reforms despite popular protests against the ruling establishment.
Recently, UN human rights experts released a report accusing Algeria of using anti-terrorism laws against activists engaged in the Hirak movement.
The Hirak movement started after former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his decision to run for a fifth term amid a political turmoil.
Angered by the decision, Algerians took to the streets to call for Bouteflika’s resignation and a “generational rupture” in their country’s political landscape.
The protests continued even after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune took office in 2019, with many human rights activists and Hirak protesters seeing his governance as an extension of the previous regime.
