Journalist Saâd Bouagba was taken into custody on Saturday (February 4th) at the central police station in Algiers, media reported. The news of his arrest also spread on social networks.
Saad Bouagba should be presented before the prosecutor near the Dar El Beida court and then before the investigating judge, according to the CNLD. He risks being prosecuted for disseminating racist and hate speech, according to El Hayat.
The placement in police custody of Saad Bouagba comes after complaints filed by civil society associations in Djelfa who protested against a controversial column by the journalist on their wilaya, published on the Anaeldjazair website.
Saâd Bouagba deletes the column and apologizes
This column, which has been deleted, has generated many reactions on social networks. Journalist Saâd Bouagba said that the inhabitants of this region had been promoted to the rank of “political cows” after having been “political sheep”. He noted that the movements of rectifications against the political parties often leave this wilaya, according to associations of the civil society of Djelfa.
The latter sent a complaint to the Director General of National Security against Saâd Bouagba, accusing the journalist of ” having undermined the dignity” of the inhabitants of their region and of “spreading hate speech within the Algerian society.
Faced with the outcry raised by his column, Saâda Bouagba apologized to the inhabitants of the wilaya of Djelfa, saying that it was a misinterpretation of his article and that he never sought to bring damage to this region.
“My column has sparked a wave of misunderstanding,” he defended himself in the apology message he posted on his Facebook page. He expressed that he had a “special relationship” with this region of Algeria and that he “could not afford to harm it”. “I didn’t mean to offend, it’s just an unfounded misunderstanding,” he said.
