The New-York based Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Algerian regime to immediately release freelance journalist and blogger Mourad At-Mimou and stop targeting journalists for their online commentary.
Algerian plainclothes police officers arrested At-Mimou on July 7, while he was at a café in Tizi-Ouzou, in northern Algeria’s Kabylia region, according to a local journalist following the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
The officers placed At-Mimou in a car without license plates and took him to the Azazga police station, about 30 kilometers east of Tizi-Ouzou, where he was held for questioning. Authorities also seized At-Mimou’s phones and transferred them to Algeria’s Central Service for Combating Cybercrime, said CPJ.
At-Mimou is being investigated over social media posts critical of Algeria’s July 2 parliamentary elections, which saw record-low turnout, according to local press reports.
About 80 % of Algerian voters have boycotted the latest parliamentary elections held in the country, casting doubts over the legitimacy of the authoritarian army-controlled regime.
“Algerian authorities must immediately release freelance journalist and blogger Mourad At-Mimou and end their practice of detaining journalists over their reporting and online expression,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Algerian authorities must allow the press to work freely without fear of arrest or retaliation.”
At-Mimou previously worked at the privately owned broadcaster Dzaïr TV, where he hosted the Kabylie-language program “Tizi n wassa-a” before the channel was shut down in 2019. Since then, he has continued publishing political commentary on his face-book page which has more than 75,000 followers.
