European Parliament urges Algeria to free journalist Ihsane El Kadi

LONDON - The European Parliament (EP) adopted Thursday a resolution condemning the increase in press freedom violations in Algeria and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of journalist Ihsane El Kadi.

The EP’s resolution, which was passed by an overwhelming majority (536 votes for, 4 against and 18 abstentions), called on Algerian authorities to respect and uphold fundamental freedoms, particularly media freedom, as enshrined in Article 54 of Algeria’s Constitution, to reopen shuttered media outlets and to halt the arrest and detention of political activists, journalists, human rights defenders and trade unionists.

The Reporters without borders (RSF) welcomed the EP’s move, urging EU member states to fight for El Kadi’s freedom.

“With this resolution, the European Parliament has shown that it does not intend to remain silent in response to the crackdown on the last independent media outlets in Algeria, even though this country is an important economic partner,” said Julie Majerczak, RSF's Representative to the EU.

“With Ihsane El Kadi’s appeal due to be heard in the coming days, we urge the European Commission and EU member states to do everything possible to ensure that this journalist recovers his freedom,” she said.

“The Algerian authorities need to realise that muzzling the media is a dangerous path that, in the long run, will not be to their advantage,” she added.

El Kadi, who ran two of Algeria’s few remaining independent media outlets, Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, has been detained since late December and was sentenced to three years in prison on April 2 on what the RSF called utterly spurious charges of illegal fund-raising ‘for political propaganda’ and endangering state security and public order. The hearing on his appeal will take place in the second half of May 2023.

The European Parliament’s resolution condemns the increase in the blocking of critical news websites and publications, and calls for the reopening of closed media outlets and an end to the arrests and detention of journalists.

The resolution stated that, since the 2019 Hirak protests, Algerian authorities have substantially clamped down on media freedom and freedom of expression.

At least 11 other journalists and media workers have been prosecuted and detained, including Mustapha Bendjama, since 2019.

The resolution condemned the increase in the blocking of critical news websites and publications critical of the government, and called for the reopening of closed media outlets and an end to the arrests and detention of journalists.

It also denounced the criminalisation of free speech in Algeria’s penal code on the pretext of defending national security, and called for the penal code to be amended and for Algeria’s legislation to be brought into line with international human rights standards.

Algeria has fallen two places in RSF’s latest World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 136th out of 180 countries.