Algeria: journalist Ihsane El Kadi is free after a Presidential pardon

The information, which has been an insistent rumour for months, is now official. Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune has granted a presidential pardon to journalist Ihsane El Kadi to mark the 70th anniversary of the Algerian revolution.

The presidential pardon announced on Thursday 31 October finally allowed Ihsane El Kadi to leave El Harrach prison in Algiers, where he had been held since 29 December 2022. Ihsane El Kadi was sentenced on 2 April 2023 by the Sidi Mhamed court to five years' imprisonment, three of which were unsuspended. His sentence was increased on appeal on 18 June of the same year, when he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, five of which were unsuspended, for having received 'funds and advantages from a foreign source for the purpose of engaging in political propaganda' and having 'undermined State security [...] and public order". However, this charge was not substantiated at his trial. The money in question was in fact sent by his daughter - who lives and works in London and is also a shareholder in Interface Médias, Ihsane El Kadi's company which publishes Radio Mand Maghreb Émergent- to pay employees' salaries.

A newspaper owner imprisoned, his media gagged

Ihsane El Kadi's media, Radio M, was forced to cease operations on 19 June 2024 after the court confirmed the dissolution of Interface Médias on 13 June 2024. The Algiers Court of Appeal also confirmed the confiscation of its seized assets, as well as a fine of ten million Algerian dinars (around €70,000) and compensation of one million dinars (around €7,000) to the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority.

RSF has led a major international campaign for the release of this journalist, respected in Algeria and abroad for his independence and uprightness. In particular, the organisation contacted the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, as well as the Media Freedom Coalition. It has also brought together 16 editors from 14 countries, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri Muratov, to call for his release. The international petition launched by RSF for the release of Ihsane El Kadi has also collected more than 20,000 signatures, the first 13,000 of which were deposited outside the Algerian embassy in Paris.

The journalists from the Algeria Scoopnews website, Omar Ferhat and Sofiane Ghirous, who had been in pre-trial detention since June 2024, were also released on Thursday 30 October. They had been remanded in custody for a video published on their media showing young people in the Sahara complaining of marginalisation.