Le procès du journaliste Ihsane El Kadi continue de susciter l’intérêt des ONG et de la presse internationale. Le site de RSF est revenu sur le réquisitoire prononcé par le procureur de la république contre le journaliste El Kadi Ihsane, -5 ans de prison ferme assortie d’une amende de 700 000 Da- en le qualifiant de « sévère » et d’ « incompréhensible ». Pour sa part, le magazine « Jeune Afrique » revient sur les conditions de détention d’El Kadi Ihsane depuis son arrestation par la Direction de la Sécurité intérieure le 23 Décembre et sur son incarcération à la prison d’El Harrach le 29 décembre dernier. .L’article rappelle notamment toutes les violations qui ont entachées l’affaire de Ihsane El Kadi, aggravées par l’intervention du président Tebboune dans le dossier alors qu’il était en cours d’instruction. De son côté, la BBC résume les faits marquants de l’affaire d’El Kadi Ihsane depuis son arrestation en rapportant les propos de quelques avocats et acteurs de la société civile présents dimanche, le jour du procès.
RSF.Org
Jeune Afrique.27.03.2023.16h54
En Algérie, le journaliste Ihsane El Kadi risque cinq ans de prison
Ihsane El Kadi.
BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring – Briefing Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi faces jail as hearing starts.pdf
Briefing: Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi faces jail as hearing starts
BY BBC MONITORING
At a glance
- An Algerian prosecutor requested a five-year jail term for journalist Ihsane El Kadi, who is accused of illegal fundraising
- The detained journalist told the court on 26 March his trial was “unfair” and accused the Algerian president of interfering
- Political figures and media condemned the trial
Full story
The trial of prominent Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi opened on 26 March – after being postponed earlier this month – with the prosecution requesting a five-year jail term, Algerian media reported.
The director and founder of the websites Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, El Kadi is being prosecuted under provisions of the Criminal Code related to foreign fundraising,according to Tout sur l’Algerie (TSA) .
The French-language independent website reported that the prosecutor at the court of Sidi M’hamed in Algiers had requested a five-year prison sentence, a five-year ban on practising journalism and a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars (£4,194).
The prosecution also requested a fine of 10 million dinars for Interface Medias – the publishing company behind Radio M and Maghreb Emergent – and confiscation of its equipment and its premises.
El Kadi was arrested in late December 2022 in his home in Boumerdes province and has been in pre-trial detention in El Harrach prison since.
According to Amnesty International, he has been charged him with several offences, including receiving funds which “could harm state security” and “receiving foreign funds for propaganda”.
According to his lawyers cited by TSA, the foreign funding which he was accused of receiving was related to a money transfer of £25,000 from his daughter – who is a UK resident and a shareholder in Interface Medias.
‘Unfair’ trial
According to Radio M, El Kadi told the court hearing he would remain silent as long as he remained in detention.
He was quoted as saying: “I am not against the court but conditions of a fair trial have not been met.”
The report said the judge had allegedly refused to allow the defendant to elaborate on why he wanted to remain silent.
In another report, Radio M reported that El Kadi and and the defence lawyers also alleged in court that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had interfered in the case when he “publicly condemned [El Kadi]” in a meeting with national media on 24 February.
The outlet described the hearing as “stormy”, claiming that it had been marred by a brief suspension and frequent “interruptions” by the judge.
