Algeria: MAK group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison
The Algerian regime is taking advantage of the Gaza crisis to manufacture false charges against a separatist movement, targeting its chief, who lives in Paris in exile.
Ferhat Mehenni has been sentenced in to 20 years in prison according to Asharq Al Awsat and agencies on January 18th.
Though in absentia, Mehenni, who founded the Kabylia separatist group called MAK, along with six other people are charged with life sentences. The Group were charged with “committing terrorist and subversive acts targeting the security of the state and national unity” on Wednesday the 17th of January.
Defendants classed as “fugitives” are penalised “strictly” by Algerian criminal law. As well as sentencing leader, Ferhat Mehenni, to 20 years in prison, the rulings included 20 other defendants, who stood before the judges as they were questioned about their alleged crimes.
After being accused of trading “considerable quantities of weapons and spreading ideas that target the security of state” and “plotting with the Zionist entity”, the court sought penalties for the group of defendants ranging between 3 to 10 years.
However the charges against them are comically unfounded and are not supported by any evidence of any sort, with the prosecutor merely stating a serious of unsubstantiated accusations.
A representative of the public prosecutor accused the defendants of participating in organisations and groups that engaged in terrorist and subversive activities stating that they “used information and communication technologies to recruit people for the benefit of a terrorist organisation”.
READ: Algeria charges separate group for “Plotting with Isreal”
In return, the defence team has denied all the charges saying that there is a lack of evidence supporting their jurisdiction. The team demanded that the court provide the weapons and ammunition that security services claimed they had seized from them.
Ferhat Mehenni, a famous singer, founded the movement in 2001 in the aftermath of bloody clashes between Algerian security forces and residents from the Kabylia region after a young man was killed by a police officer.
The clashes had left 170 civilians dead and tens injured. MAK advocates for self-determination for Algeria’s Amazigh Kabylia region, in the east of the country.
MAK was designated as a “terrorist group” in May 2021 following an international arrest warrant for Mehenni by the Algerian judiciary. The leader was accused of being involved in the significant wildfires that affected the country along with several other cases.
READ: Algeria fires: Biden refusal to Aid Kabylia
Four other defendants in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence. While Mehenni, 72, and the six other defendants live in France, where they benefit from a political asylum status.
Asharq Al Awsat and agencies
