عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Algeria Jails Opposition Activist for 2 Years

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
TT
20
TT

Algeria Jails Opposition Activist for 2 Years

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina

An Algerian court on Sunday jailed for two years Chems Eddine Laalami, a leading figure from the pro-democracy Hirak protest movement, a rights group said.

Also known as Brahim, 30-year-old Laalami was arrested in late June by the Algerian coastguard as he attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Spain in a migrant boat, Agence France Presse reported.

There were two cases against him, one for "hate speech, contempt of institutions and fake news" and another for "incitement to an unarmed gathering", said the CNLD prisoners' rights group.

Laalami, a tailor, shot to prominence in February 2019 when he demonstrated in Bordj Bou Arreridj near Algiers to denounce then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term.

A peaceful popular uprising erupted soon after in the capital and other major cities of the North African country, forcing Bouteflika to resign in April that year.

Laalami has since been arrested several times and convicted in a number of trials.

He had already been sentenced to three months for his attempt to flee to Spain.

"Young people are slipping back into disillusionment and despair after a moment of hope sparked by Hirak," said Said Salhi, vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH).

Many were fleeing the country and burning their identity papers on arrival at their destination to avoid being sent back, an act known as "harraga" in Arabic, he added.

Determined to break up the Hirak protest movement, the government has banned its demonstrations and stepped up legal proceedings against opponents, activists, journalists and academics.

Around 300 people are currently behind bars on charges related to the Hirak, according to the CNLD.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Israel considers “the Syrian president directly responsible for every threat and firing toward the State of Israel” and warned of a “full response” to come “as soon as possible.”

Israel has been suspicious of the former opposition fighters who formed the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad’s fall.

Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run TV channel that it has “not yet verified the accuracy” of the reports of strikes launched from Syria toward Israel.

“We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region,” the statement said. It condemned the Israeli shelling, which it said had resulted in “significant human and material losses.”

The US, which has warmed to al-Sharaa's government and recently moved to lift some sanctions previously imposed on Syria, has pushed for Syria to normalize relations with Israel.

In a recent interview with the Jewish Journal, al-Sharaa said he wants to see a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries but stopped short of proposing immediate normalization, saying that “peace must be earned through mutual respect, not fear.”