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Algeria: Karim Tabbou, a Figure of the Dispute, Tried on Appeal on September 27

Scheduled for Monday, June 28, the appeal trial of Karim Tabbou, a figure in the Hirak protest movement in Algeria, accused of “undermining the morale of the army,” has been postponed to September 27, according to an association supporting detainees of Hirak.

“The appeal trial of Karim Tabbou, initially scheduled for Monday, June 28 at the court of Tipaza (west of Algiers), has been postponed to September 27,” said the National Committee for the release of detainees (CNLD ) on his Facebook page. Karim Tabbou, 47, was sentenced at first instance on December 7, 2020, by the court in Kolรฉa, near Algiers, to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 100,000 dinars (around 640 euros) for “damage to the morale of the army.โ€ During the trial, the prosecutor demanded three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dinars against the opponent, a former prisoner of conscience.

Arrested on September 26, 2019, in connection with this case, he was imprisoned for nine months before being granted parole on July 2, 2020. In another case, Karim Tabbou was sentenced on appeal on March 24, 2020, to a year in prison for the same count of “undermining national security”, due to a video posted on his party’s Facebook page in which he criticized the interference of the army in political affairs, a penalty that ‘he has already served.

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300 people imprisoned in connection with the Hirak

Leader of a small opposition party not approved by the authorities, the Democratic and Social Union (UDS), he is one of the most popular faces of the Hirak, an unprecedented anti-system movement born in February 2019. In addition, Karim Tabbou was placed on April 29 under judicial supervision following an altercation with Bouzid Lazhari, the president of the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH), an official body. He was arrested on June 10 by the security services before being released the next day, on the eve of the anticipated legislative elections.

With the approach of this electoral deadline, the authorities endeavored to neutralize the Hirak, banning its demonstrations, and increasing the arrests and the legal proceedings targeting political opponents, Iraqi militants, journalists and academics. According to the CNLD, some 300 people are currently imprisoned for acts related to Hirak and/or individual freedoms.

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