Algeria: president pardons 1,000+ prisoners

Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has pardoned 1,076 prisoners and issued “clemency measures” in favour of 70 detainees from the Hirak Movement, Agence-France Presse has reported.

“On the occasion of the blessed month of Ramadan, and according to the constitution, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, signed today, Sunday, a presidential decree, stipulating a pardon in favour of 1,076 prisoners serving sentences handed down to them,” said officials. “The president also ordered the application of clemency measures that affect seventy persons indicted [but not yet sentenced] for cases relating to breaching public order.”

The cases mentioned refer to activists affiliated to the Hirak Movement, which began in February 2019 with mass demonstrations that led to the overthrow of late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Protesters continued to demand regime change until the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020.

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Most of the detainees were released from pre-trial detention on Wednesday and Thursday. Some are charged with the promotion of “terrorism”, such as prominent activist Zaki Hanash, explained the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees. A total of around 300 people have been arrested in Algeria for activities linked to the Hirak Movement, or on charges related to individual liberties, it pointed out.

One of the Hirak Movement’s popular icons, Ibrahim Lallami, was also released. He had been sentenced to two years in prison on several charges, including “spreading hate speech” and “calling for an unarmed gathering”.

Lallami was among the first demonstrators in early February 2019 to denounce the candidature of Bouteflika for a fifth presidential term. He was arrested in June that year while he was trying to leave the country for Spain.