Algeria: Hirak figure Fethi Ghares sentenced to two years in prison
Fethi Ghares, leader of the opposition group MDS (Social and Democratic Movement) and figure of the Hirak protests in Algeria, was sentenced to 2 years in prison for “insulting a public institution” and for “spreading false information ”, reports Jeune Afrique on October 22nd. He was arrested in late September for comments he made on Facebook, in which he criticized president Tebboune’s plans to reform electoral laws. He also received a fine of 300 000 dinars (about $2,300), according to his lawyers. He has appealed the sentence and will thus remain free until the new trial.
Ghares has been arrested and jailed several times since 2021 for criticizing the regime. Like other left-wing movements associated to the Hirak movement, the MDS group was banned in February 2023 and its offices closed; Ghares has been regularly targeted by authorities since then.
The Hirak protests erupted in 2019 after then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced he was presenting himself for a fifth term, after 20 years in power and in the context of much speculation about this health. While Algeria had remained relatively calm during the Arab Spring protests that swept North Africa in 2011, the Hirak protests were the biggest the country had seen in many years. While Bouteflika resigned, he was swiftly replaced by former Prime Minister and regime ally Abdelmajid Tebboune in controversial elections.
This sentence is once again raising questions about freedom of speech in Algeria, and the rising number of political prisoners. It echoes the cases of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, arrested in 2024, and poet Mohamed Tadjadit, whose words demanding change and dignity accompanied the Hirak protests.
Algerian newspaper Le Matin d’Algérie published a list of 215 prisoners of conscience in December 2024, with many arrested for publicly supporting the Hirak movement, or for carrying Amazigh (Berber) flags. Earlier this year, dozens more were arrested for social media posts that criticized the government, signalling a crackdown against any form of dissent.
Jeune Afrique, Le Matin d’Algérie
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