Journalist Khaled Drareni remains in jail  | Photo: Zoheir Aberkane 

by Shelagh Smith

This is an article from the current issue of Middle East Solidarity magazine – help us continue our work bydonating £2 for a digital copy online

Seventeen months after the protest movement, or Hirak, exploded onto the streets of Algeria in February 2019, there has been no fundamental change to the system since independence in 1962.

The demand remains for a civil, not a military state. Protesters demonstrated peacefully every week until mid-March 2020, when the authorities banned marches due to the coronavirus outbreak – although the opposition had already suspended them.

Despite a few prisoner releases in July, opponents, journalists, independent media and internet users have been increasingly persecuted by Algerian authorities for expressing critical opinions in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, with more frequent arrests and jail sentences.

Recently, the Algerian League…