schema:articleBody
| - Two key figures in Algeria's protest movement, Karim Tabbou and Amir Bouraoui, are to be freed provisionally from prison Thursday, a lawyer and rights groups said. "The request for his provisional release has been accepted. He will be released on Thursday," Tabbou's lawyer Abdelghani Badi told AFP. Amnesty International, which lobbied for his release, welcomed the news. Tabbou, 47, is one of the most prominent if not the best-known figure of "Hirak" -- a protest movement that forced the downfall last April of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD) said Bouraoui was also to be freed provisionally later on Thursday, while her lawyer said her release was pending another appeal hearing on September 24. Bouraoui was sentenced to a one-year jail term on June 21 for a string of charges, including "offending" the president and Islam as well as for "incitement" to violate coronavirus confinement regulations. Sosiane Djilali, head of an opposition party, said a month ago that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had told him in a meeting he would "ensure that Karim Tabbou and Samir Benlarbi regain their freedom". Benlarbi, a media personality, has been held in preventive detention, while Tabbou is serving a one-year term for an "attack on the integrity of national territory". Tabbou also faces a charge of "damaging the morale of the army", in a trial which has been postponed to September 14. Weekly anti-government protests rocked Algeria for more than a year and only came to a halt in March due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, with the authorities banning marches -- although the opposition had already stopped gathering, due to concerns about the virus. But the Algerian government continues to target opponents, journalists, independent media and internet users. According to the CNLD, almost 70 people are currently detained on charges linked to the protest movement, mostly over Facebook posts. ad-sc-agr/hc/dr
|