Algeria: Young cyber-activist accused of "incitement to terrorism"

It was not until the 22nd of July that the young activist was brought before the El-Harrach Court Prosecutor, after having been detained in secret for eleven days and denied contact with the outside world. Four days ago, his father and brother were able to visit him in El-Harrach prison and they report that he had difficulty telling them what had happened to him since his arrest on the 11th of July, probably for fear of reprisals. It is still not known whether he has been subject to physical abuse during his detention.

Saber Saidi is accused of sharing videos of the Arab revolutions on his Facebook page and having relations with Qatar or prohibited Algerian opposition movements. He is charged with "incitement to terrorism" according to the clause of articles 87 bis, 87 bis 4 and 87 bis 5 of the Penal Code, a sufficiently vague and imprecise accusation in internal law which allows Algerian courts to prosecute individuals for a range of political and associative activities. Furthermore, Saber risks being condemned to a heavy prison sentence; his detention is quite clearly a direct consequence of his exercise of the right to freedom of expression.

After Tarek Mameri and Abdellah Benaoum, this new arrest carried out by Algerian intelligence services aims to silence an activist who is particularly active on social networks and, in doing so, any voice calling for a peaceful change of regime in Algeria.

Today Alkarama and the Algerian Observatory of human rights (OADH) urgently requested that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Opinion and Expression intervene by calling upon the Algerian authorities to release Saber Saidi and put an end to all measures of persecution against Algerian political activists.

For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).