Prominent Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi has been freed by a presidential pardon, his lawyers say, after being imprisoned for taking foreign funding for his media outlets and “threatening state security”.
El Kadi, 65, was released on Friday after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune signed two decrees pardoning more than 4,000 detainees to mark the anniversary of the 1956-1962 conflict with France that led to the North African country’s independence.
His lawyer Noureddine Ahmine posted on Facebook: “What joy! Ihsane El Kadi is free!” alongside a picture of the journalist at home with his family.
Another lawyer, Nabila Smail, posted: “At last Ihsane El Kadi is back home with his loved ones. Freed on November 1. The end of a nightmare.”
El Kadi, who heads Interface Medias, which includes the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M, had served a year and four months of the seven-year sentence he received in June 2023.
Seven years is the maximum penalty under an article in the penal code that criminalises anyone who receives “funds, a grant or otherwise … to carry out acts capable of undermining state security”.
He was first arrested in December 2022 and held under a state security law.
In addition to his imprisonment, the court ordered the two media entities dissolved and ruled the two companies and El Kadi pay a total of 11.7 million dinars ($86,200) in fines.
The two media projects were key outlets during the Hirak protest movement, which led to the resignation of octogenarian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019 after 20 years in power.
Among the Hirak movement prisoners freed was Mohamed Tadjadit, 29, dubbed the “poet of the Hirak” for his recitations during the mass protests and for his posts on Facebook.
El Kadi was sentenced to seven years after he appealed an initial five-year term for “foreign financing of his business”.
His lawyers had argued that the funds had been sent by his London-based daughter Tin Hinane, a shareholder in his media group, to settle debts.
El Kadi’s arrest sparked a wave of solidarity among his colleagues and rights activists in both Algeria and Europe.
A petition by Reporters Without Borders, known by its French initials RSF, a media rights watchdog, attracted more than 10,000 signatures.
RSF on Friday expressed “immense relief” at El Kadi’s release, saying it hoped this would “also signal a lifting of restrictions on press freedom”.
Algeria ranks 139 of 180 countries and territories on RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
