Amira Bouraoui, a prominent opposition figure, actively participated in the 2019-2021 Algerian protests, known as the Hirak Movement, that eventually led to the 2019 resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was planning to run for a fifth term.
Bouraoui was banned from leaving the country but managed to flee to France through Tunisia in February. After this event, Algerian authorities started to pressure not only possible suspects who helped her but also other journalists and investigators.
“The investigation into Bouraoui’s departure resulted in the arrest of five people starting February 8, including journalist Mustapha Bendjama. In a spinoff from this first round-up, the authorities arrested four more people and launched additional politically motivated prosecutions against Bendjama, and at least two others, including the Algerian-Canadian researcher Raouf Farrah, in a second investigation,” Human Rights Watch said in an official statement.
Bendjama is a journalist and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Le Provincial. He was arrested in a raid at his office and sentenced for receiving foreign funding to commit acts against public order and publishing classified information.
“An Algerian court’s decision to sentence journalist and press freedom advocate Mustapha Bendjama to two years in prison is deeply cruel and constitutes an attack on free speech throughout the country,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator.
Farrah is a senior analyst who has worked for the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) since 2019. This organization confirmed that he was arrested in Annaba, Algeria on February 14 while visiting his parents with his wife and son. He was charged with “spreading information and documents that are classified as secret” and the crime of “receiving funds for the purpose of committing acts that would disturb the public peace.”
His father, Sebti Farrah, was accused of "receiving funds from foreign or domestic institutions for the purpose of committing acts that would disturb public peace to commit acts that would disturb the public peace". He was granted bail in April.
“The charges brought against Raouf not only lack a credible foundation but also cast a shadow on the principles of freedom and free expression that are vital for the advancement of knowledge and global understanding”, GI-TOC said in an official statement.
