Algeria jails ex-minister for six years for graft

An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced former culture minister and feminist activist Khalida Toumi to six years behind bars for corruption, the official APS agency reported.

Toumi, 64, who has been detained since November 2020, was charged with squandering public funds, abuse of office and granting undue privileges.

The charges date back to her 12 years as culture minister under late president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The accusations against Toumi mainly centred on state-organised cultural events, and prosecutors had asked the court to jail her for 10 years. Toumi was a prominent figure in Algeria's feminist movement in the 1990s.

Other defendants in the same trial were jailed for two to four years.

Bouteflika was forced to stand down in 2019 amid vast protests against his bid for a fifth term in office, and several key figures in his entourage have since been imprisoned for graft.

Algeria ranks 117th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.