Algerian court sentences popular movement activist to 18 months in prison

Dalila Touat, an activist affiliated to the Algerian popular movement who has been on hunger strike in prison since 3 January, was sentenced to a further 18 months in prison by Mostaganem Court on Monday, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).

The CNLD posted on its Facebook page that “Dalila Touat, known as a spokeswoman for the unemployed in Mostaganem, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in addition to a fine.”

During the trial that took place on 11 January, the prosecution requested that she be sentenced to two years in prison and to pay a fine of 300,000 Algerian dinars ($2,256.54).

#Alert#Algeria

The Mostaganem court gave out an 18 months sentence to WHRD Dalila Touat. Dalila was charged with ‘insulting a statutory body and publishing content that harms national interest’.

Dalila works on defending labor rights. pic.twitter.com/4zTbattK9d

— WHRD- MENA (@whrdmena) January 18, 2021

According to the committee, Touat is accused of “insulting a state body, slander, and circulating publications affecting public order.”

READ: Snow blankets Saudi Arabia and Algeria as temperatures plummet

Touat was placed in temporary detention on 3 January, and since then has been on hunger strike.

She was previously sentenced in another case to two years in prison on 30 November 2020. However, the judge did not approve the verdict.

Touat was accused in the previous case of obstructing the electoral process, on the occasion of the constitutional referendum held in Algeria on 1 November 2020, and insulting a government employee while he was performing his duties, according to the CNLD.

According to the CNLD, about 80 people are detained in Algeria in connection with the popular movement protests or advocacy for individual freedoms, and at least 90 per cent of cases are based on publications criticising the authorities on social media platforms.