El Kadi Ihsane finds freedom. Imprisoned since December 2022, the Algerian journalist was released on the night of Thursday October 31 to Friday November 1.
The founder of the Radio M and Maghreb Émergent sites was touched by the presidential pardon decided by the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune for the benefit of prisoners definitively sentenced, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the War of National Liberation .
The pardon concerns common law prisoners and those convicted in cases of breach of public order. It affects a total of 4,000 people, the Presidency of the Republic said in a press release.
El Kadi Ihsane was arrested on the evening of December 24, 2022 at his home in Zemmouri, in the wilaya of Boumerdès, and placed in pre-trial detention at El Harrach prison on December 29 by an investigating judge from the Sidi M'hamed court.
He was prosecuted for “collecting funds from abroad” aimed at “undermining the security of the State”. An accusation that her defense has always rejected, explaining that the financing in question is a sum sent by her daughter Tinhinane El Kadi from the United Kingdom where she resides, for the needs of the operation of the two media Maghreb Émergent and Radio M of which she is a shareholder. .
Journalist El Kadi Ihsane regains freedom after nearly two years behind bars
Tried in April 2023 at first instance, El Kadi Ihsane was sentenced by the same court to 5 years in prison, including three years. The sentence was increased by the court of Algiers to 7 years in prison, including five years at the end of the appeal trial held in June 2023. The court also ordered the dissolution of the company Interface Médias which publishes the two sites and the seizure of its material.
The sentence became final in October of the same year when the Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal filed by the journalist's defense.
“Thursday October 12, 2023 was a hard blow for us, wife and children of Ihsane El Kadi, journalist imprisoned for his opinions for ten months. His friends, his colleagues and all those who care about the advent of the rule of law in Algeria are no less in shock than we are,” his family wrote in a public statement.
The imprisonment of El Kadi Ihsane sparked an immense outpouring of solidarity with the journalist and numerous calls for his release, including abroad.
