ALGERIAN COURT JAILS OPPOSITION LEADER GHARES FOR TWO YEARS OVER FACEBOOK POST INSULTING PRESIDENT
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
An Algerian court on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Fethi Ghares to two years in prison for a Facebook post deemed to have insulted President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, his lawyer said.
Ghares, a prominent secular leftist opposition figure, was convicted of making remarks “concerning the president,” according to his lawyer Abdelghani Badi, who confirmed the sentence to AFP.
Badi added that the court did not order Ghares’s immediate detention, noting that the defence team intends to appeal the ruling.
The politician, who was not present at the hearing, was also ordered to pay a fine of 300,000 dinars (approximately $2,300).
Another member of the defence team, lawyer Fetta Sadat, said prosecutors had sought a three-year jail term on charges of “insulting a state institution” and “spreading false or malicious information likely to harm public order or security.”
Ghares, 50, has faced multiple prosecutions in recent years over his online statements. In May 2024, he was convicted on similar charges and sentenced to one year in prison, though he remained free pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.
He was also arrested in 2021 and later jailed on accusations of insulting the president, all linked to posts made on Facebook.
A former member of Algeria’s secular leftist opposition, Ghares was an active participant in the 2019 Hirak pro-democracy movement, which forced long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power.
His Democratic and Social Movement (MDS) party, the successor of the Algerian Communist Party was officially banned in February 2023, further tightening the government’s clampdown on dissent.
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