RSF alerts UN after imprisonment of Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi

The journalists’ rights NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has alerted the United Nations to the imprisonment of journalist and director of the Radio M and Maghreb Émergent media, Ihsane El Kadi.

In a letter dated Tuesday 3 January 2023, RSF informed the UN of the “judicial harassment” to which Ihsane El Kadi, journalist and director of the Radio M and Maghreb Émergent media, has been subjected for the past three years. It therefore denounces this final attempt to silence the last independent media in Algeria.

The arrest of Ihsane El Kadi on 24 December by the security services provoked a shock within the profession and a wave of solidarity in Algeria and abroad. By way of illustration, RSF urgently referred the matter of Ihsane El Kadi’s detention to the UN Special Reporter on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan.

“We call on the UN Special Reporter to urgently call on the authorities to respect their international and constitutional obligations. The UN must demand Ihsane El Kadi’s immediate release and the complete abandonment of spurious charges that are only intended to silence him,” the organisation said.

According to RSF correspondence, the journalist’s arrest on 24 December came just days after he published articles critical of the authorities. This chronology lends credence to a political motivation behind his arrest and a clear desire to muzzle independent media offering a platform to free speech advocates.

For about three years, Ihsane El Kadi has been under frequent pressure and intimidation from the authorities. For about three years, Ihsane El Kadi has been under frequent pressure and intimidation from the authorities. On the eve of December 2022, RSF was already calling on the Algerian authorities to put an end to the judicial harassment of the journalist. He was sentenced to six months in prison in June 2022, his appeal was postponed several times and he was repeatedly summoned in November.

It is because of its frequent threats, intimidation and judicial harassment of journalists that Algeria was ranked 134th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF in 2022, reports RSF.