Algeria pardons and releases journalist who became a key voice during 2019 pro-democracy protests

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria has pardoned a journalist who emerged as a key voice during the country’s 2019 pro-democracy protests and was later imprisoned for taking foreign funding for his media outlets and threatening state security.

Ihsane El Kadi was released from prison Thursday evening, one of his lawyers, Fetta Seddat, told The Associated Press. He was among a larger group of figures pardoned and released on the 70th anniversary of the start of Algeria’s revolution, a national holiday that authorities have in the past used as an occasion to offer pardons.

El Kadi was the veteran editorial director of the media company responsible for the francophone station Radio M and news site Maghreb Emergent. Both reported heavily on Algeria's weekly pro-democracy “Hirak” protests, which began in 2019 and led to the resignation of octogenarian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Known as the “voice of the Hirak,” both became forums for pro-Hirak voices and debates on protesters' objectives.

Known as one of the rare independent voices in Algerian media, El Kadi was among the figures from the Algerian media to be targeted by authorities as the protests continued under Bouteflika's successor, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. He covered everything from economics to the Algerian Civil War, which plagued the nation throughout the 1990s and cemented the military's grip on power in the gas-rich North African nation.

El Kadi was arrested in 2022 and charged with undermining state security and violating laws prohibiting media organizations from receiving foreign funds. Investigators said his daughter sent money from the United Kingdom. Both Radio M and Maghreb Emergent were shuttered.

His arrest and seven-year prison sentence garnered international condemnation and became emblematic of Algeria's crackdown on free expression and voices critical of the government.

El Kadi was greeted by his wife and daughter upon his Thursday release from El Harrah prison. Pro-democracy activists and press freedom advocates celebrated the pardon. Reporters Without Borders' North Africa Representative Khaled Drareni, said in a statement that El Kadi, “should never have been imprisoned.”

“It is to be hoped that this release will also signal the ending of restrictions on press freedom,” he added.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Algeria 139th out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, calling the media landscape “deteriorated” as journalists continue to be pressured, jailed and prosecuted.

El Kadi was among 4,000 people released Thursday based on clemency decrees signed by Tebboune, according to a statement from his office. Those released included people imprisoned for low-level crimes and for “undermining public order,” a charge that Algerian authorities have used to target dissidents in the past.

Tebboune also pardoned Mohamed Tadjadit, a pro-democracy activist known as the “poet of the Hirak" for his outspoken writing, which he did in Algerian Arabic. He was detained in January after criticizing the authorities on social media. The detention came after several years in which he was detained and subsequently pardoned for similar criticisms.

In September, before Tebboune was elected to a second term, Amnesty International decried Algeria's crackdown on freedom of expression and said it “contributed to a climate of fear and censorship in the country.”

“Authorities have continued to clamp down on journalists through arbitrary detention and prosecutions, arbitrary restrictions on their right to freedom of movement and unfounded sanctions imposed on media outlets,” the human rights group wrote in a Sept. 2 statement.