![Walid Kechida was charged with insulting the president and religion on a Facebook page he created called Hirak Memes [@saidsalhi527/Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/walid--e1609862776361.jpeg?fit=719%2C480&ssl=1)
An Algerian court yesterday sentenced a supporter of the Hirak protest movement to three years in prison and fined him for publishing political cartoons and memes on Facebook.
Walid Kechida was charged with insulting the president and religion on a Facebook page he created called Hirak Memes.
Kechida was arrested in April and has been detained since. He was referred to the criminal court in December.
The Hirak movement erupted in February 2019 after then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced he was running for a fifth term. Mass protests led to his resignation in April, along with a wave of arrests of several officials who were accused of corruption. The protests were paused when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in March last year.