Journalist jailed for criticising Bouteflika

A British-Algerian journalist and blogger was sentenced to two years in jail on Monday on charges of offending Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and other officials on Facebook, local media sources reported.

Ali Mohamed Tamalt’s trial took a little over two hours in a court in Sidi Mohamed, Al-Khabar newspaper reported.

It reported Tamalt saying that he had written poetry criticising the president and as this is a form of art it is not an offence.

“The president was accused of rigging the presidential elections of 1999 by seven candidates. I only described the incident,” Tamalt said, adding: “I am a journalist and a poet, I have the right to criticise corruption,”

Tamalt, 42, was arrested in Algiers on 27 June.