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
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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.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.