Algérie : Mohamed Tadjadit, « le poète du Hirak », condamné à cinq ans de prison
The Algerian activist, imprisoned several times since 2019 for his peaceful activism, was heavily sanctioned for "apology for terrorism" in a new trial.
Mohamed Tadjadit, nicknamed "the poet of the Hirak" for his verses recited and shared on social media during the 2019 Algerian protest movement, was sentenced on Tuesday, November 11, to five years in prison .
The woman in her thirties was found guilty of, among other things, "supporting terrorist organizations" and "spreading extremist ideas," announced her lawyer, Mr. Fetta Sadat. This sentence follows the prosecution's request for a ten-year prison term.
The "poet of the Hirak" is a well-known figure in the peaceful protest movement. The Hirak movement, which began in February 2019 and forced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign, was gradually stifled from March 2020 onwards by the ban on gatherings (justified by the Covid-19 crisis) and the imprisonment of its leaders.
Human rights NGOs point out that Mohamed Tadjadit was imprisoned at least six times between 2019 and 2025 in connection with his activism. His last release was in November 2024, following a presidential pardon, but he was arrested again in January and convicted in another case (his sentence has since been reduced to one year on appeal).
This new conviction has sparked outrage in the international community. In a joint statement published the day before the trial (November 10), a coalition of some twenty non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International and PEN America , deemed the accusations against him "baseless" and demanded his immediate release.
They believe that the "persecution" of Mohamed Tadjadit is based solely on "his poetry and peaceful activism," describing his continued detention as a "violation of his fundamental rights." For the NGOs, this trial sends an "alarming signal to all those who raise their voices to defend human rights in Algeria."
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