Algeria has once again punished an opposition voice for online speech, sentencing political figure Fethi Ghares to two years in prison for a Facebook post that authorities claimed insulted President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
His lawyer, Abdelghani Badi, confirmed the verdict, saying Ghares was convicted “for remarks concerning the president.”
Despite the sentence, the court did not order his immediate imprisonment, and his legal team plans to appeal. Ghares, who remains at liberty, chose not to attend the hearing.
According to another defense lawyer, Fetta Sadat, the court also imposed a fine of 300,000 dinars (roughly $2,300).
She noted that prosecutors had sought a harsher three-year sentence in addition to the same fine. The charges accused Ghares of “insulting a state institution” and “spreading false or malicious information likely to harm public order or security.”
The 50-year-old has faced repeated prosecutions over his online posts.
In May of last year, he received a one-year prison sentence in a similar case but was never jailed as the appeal reached the Supreme Court. Two years earlier, in 2021, he was detained and later convicted on comparable allegations.
