Arrested on 24 December and placed in police custody, the director of Radio M and Maghreb Emergent was brought before the public prosecutor at the Sidi M’hemed court in Algiers on the morning of Thursday 29 December. After his hearing, journalist Ihsane El Kadi was placed under a detention warrant, facing four charges related to the law on fundraising and receiving money from abroad without a licence. Thus, the director of publication of Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, is accused by articles 95 and 95 bis and 96, concerning publications, as well as article 1 of the law on fundraising. Ihsane El Kadi, was presented to the prosecutor in the absence of his lawyer, who was not informed of the date of his presentation to justice.
As a reminder, the journalist was arrested and taken into custody on 24 December at the premises of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI). The headquarters of Interface Medias, which publishes Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, were sealed and the equipment was seized in the presence of the handcuffed journalist.
“Several years in prison”.
For the time being, nothing more is known about this case. But these charges could result in the journalist spending many years in prison. In 2020, Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s regime significantly tightened its penal legislation. Among other things, it introduced an article 95 bis into its Penal Code, according to which anyone who receives funds from a State or an organisation or person from inside or outside the country to carry out acts that undermine State security or national unity is punished with five to seven years’ imprisonment. The penalty can even be doubled “when the funds are received within the framework of an association, group, organisation or agreement, whatever its form or name”, reports the Cross.
