Arrested last April, Rabah Karèche was remanded in custody. He was tried at first instance at the beginning of last August and sentenced to one year in prison, including 8 months firm.
The journalist and correspondent for the French-speaking daily, Liberté, in Tamanrasset, in the far south of the country, was sentenced to one year in prison, including six months firm. This verdict was pronounced on Monday, October 11 by the judge at the Court of Tamanrasset who had judged him on appeal, on October 4.
This was announced by the journalist’s defense collective, specifying that he will leave prison on October 19 after having served his sentence.
Arrested last April, Rabah Karèche was remanded in custody. He was tried at first instance at the beginning of last August, and sentenced to one year in prison, including 8 months firm.
Press correspondent in this locality in the far south of the country, the journalist was prosecuted for “creating an electronic account devoted to the dissemination of information likely to cause segregation and hatred in society”, “voluntary dissemination false information liable to attack public order ”and“ use of various means to undermine security and national unity”.
During his appeal trial, the judge and the public prosecutor criticized him for posting on his Facebook page his articles published in the newspaper Liberté, including a report of a protest by the Tuareg notables who “denounced the new administrative division decided by the government”.
According to his lawyers, Rabah Karèche “is being prosecuted for his articles in violation of the Constitution which prohibits the imprisonment of journalists for press offenses”.
But the judge at the Court of Tamanrasset affirms the opposite, specifying that the prosecutions are in connection with his publications on social networks.
In 2020, the government adopted new legislation criminalizing “the dissemination of false news and hate speech on social networks”.
