High-profile Algeria journalist in jail over 'national unity'

A prominent Algerian journalist was remanded in custody on accusations of illegally collecting donations for propaganda activities, a court said Thursday.

Ihsane El Kadi, who was detained late last week, is under "preliminary investigation" on allegations of illegally receiving funds and donations "to make propaganda for foreign parties", the Algiers court said in a statement.

El Kadi, director of the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M - the last free media outlet in Algeria - has been accused of "receiving sums of money and privileges from people and organisations inside the country and abroad in exchange for carrying out activities that could harm state security", the court said.

For the past three years, Algerian journalist El-Kadi has faced relentless judicial harassment.

Maghreb Emergent had earlier reported his detention under a law relating to receiving funds and donations in exchange for acts that threaten state security or "national unity", for which he could face up to seven years in prison.

some observers have speculated that it may be in fact be related to a recent post on Twitter.

Radio M said El Kadi had appeared in court "without his lawyers, who were not notified".

The day after his detention, the police sealed off the headquarters of Interface Media -- which runs both outlets -- and seized documents, it reported.

El Kadi was sentenced in June to six months in prison after a former information minister lodged a complaint against him over a Radio M article about Rachad, an Islamist organisation Algeria labels a "terrorist" group.

The sentence was confirmed on appeal but the court did not order El Kadi's detention.

The authorities' moves against El Kadi and his outlets have prompted an outpouring of solidarity among journalists and rights defenders in Algeria and beyond, with some 800 people signing a petition for his release.

Algeria ranks 134th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) press freedom index.

In a statement Thursday, the watchdog said the latest move against El Kadi was "the culmination of a long period of persecution and endless judicial harassment".

It came "with the obvious aim of silencing one of the last Algerian media outlets still open to free debate and criticism", it added.

RSF's North Africa representative Khaled Drareni said the authorities had "clearly chosen... to muzzle the media and send a loud message to those who continue to defend freedom of information".

Journalists have come under particular pressure in Algeria since a protest movement that unseated longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019 waned in the face of coronavirus restrictions.