Algerian journalist Mustapha Bendjama arbitrarily detained since February 2023
Timeline
August 29, 2023: The Constantine Court sentences Bendjama to 2 years in prison.
July 19, 2023: MENA Rights Group sends an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression concerning the situation of Mustapha Bendjama.
July 16, 2023: Accused of “harming the national interest” and “defamation”, Bendjama is fined 30,000 dinars and ordered to pay 50,000 dinars in compensation for publishing a video in March 2020 about the public discontent caused by the organisation of a wedding in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.
February 19, 2023: Bendjama is placed in pretrial detention.
February 8, 2023: Bendjama is arrested by the gendarmerie.
July 18, 2021: After being charged with “defamation and slander” and “insulting a state constituent body” following a complaint lodged by the Direction générale de la Sûreté nationale (DGSN) for a Facebook post , Bendjama is acquitted on appeal.
June 27, 2021: Bendjama is sentenced on appeal to a two-month suspended prison sentence for “publication detrimental to the national interest” after sharing a police report describing him and another journalist as “subversives”.
November 18, 2020: Bendjama is charged with “inciting an unarmed gathering”, “obstructing the electoral process” and “obstructing actions authorised by the public authorities by means of a gathering” for having been near a demonstration in the context of the 2019 presidential campaign. He is acquitted on appeal.
November 2019 - October 2022: Bendjama is subjected to a travel ban.