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Algeria's Largest Islamic Party Demands Release of All Prisoners of Conscience

A file photo shows demonstrators wearing national flags walk past a street vendor during a protest demanding a change of the power structure in Algiers, Algeria January 24, 2020. (Reuters)
A file photo shows demonstrators wearing national flags walk past a street vendor during a protest demanding a change of the power structure in Algiers, Algeria January 24, 2020. (Reuters)
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Algeria's Largest Islamic Party Demands Release of All Prisoners of Conscience

A file photo shows demonstrators wearing national flags walk past a street vendor during a protest demanding a change of the power structure in Algiers, Algeria January 24, 2020. (Reuters)
A file photo shows demonstrators wearing national flags walk past a street vendor during a protest demanding a change of the power structure in Algiers, Algeria January 24, 2020. (Reuters)

The Algerian Movement of Society for Peace, the largest Islamic party in the country, demanded on Thursday the release of all prisoners of conscience with no exceptions.

The Movement released a statement after revealing that it is aware of recent developments that occurred regarding several cases that lead to the release of former officials, and therefore, it urged the release of all prisoners of conscience.

The Movement said that ensuring the future of Algeria starts from the realization of the genuine will of its people without any form of guardianship. It further underscored the importance of showing confidence in the Algerians’ choices.

This came as a sentence was issued in the case of Algerian blogger Walid Kashida who was sentenced to three years in prison.

Kashida, who is a supporter of the Hirak, is accused of publishing comics on the Internet ridiculing Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and religion, according to an NGO and a lawyer.

The verdict frustrated rights activities and politicians who were expecting his release.

The Public Prosecutor in Setif had requested a five-year imprisonment sentence against Kachida, 25, on charges of insulting "a statutory body, the president and religion."

Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), said that the authority insists on being despotic.

There are more than 90 individuals in Algerian prisons detained over their ties with the Hirak or freedom of opinion issues. The prosecutions, in the majority, are based on Facebook posts that criticize the authority, Salhi noted.

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Arab World

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.