On Thursday, July 4, 2024, the judge of the Dar El Beida Court in Algiers issued a verdict convicting activist and prisoner of conscience “Djamila Bentouis” to two years of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Algerian Dinars. This follows her trial on June 27, 2024, on charges of undermining the security and unity of the country and inciting an unarmed gathering.
Djamila Bentouis (60 years old), married and a mother of three, residing in France and holding both Algerian and French citizenships, was arrested by security forces at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers on February 25, 2024, upon her arrival from Paris to attend her mother’s funeral. She was detained and interrogated for a long time, then her travel documents were confiscated before she was released late on the same day, with a requirement to appear at the judicial police office in Dar El Beida on February 28, 2024.
The activist Djamila Bentouis then appeared before the judicial police in Dar El Beida as requested, undergoing another interrogation about her multiple participations in activities supporting the Hirak movement, her views on supporting peaceful democratic change in Algeria, and a song she had written and sung, which denounced the arrests and repression faced by the movement’s activists by the security forces due to their demands for democracy and a civil state. She was then given another summons to appear again on March 3, 2024.
After her appearance on the morning of March 3, 2024, she was presented to the public prosecutor of the Dar El Beida Court, where she was informed of the charges against her under Article 87 bis, including the felony of involvement in a terrorist group operating inside and outside the country, undermining the security and unity of the country, and inciting an unarmed gathering. These charges were all based on the lyrics of the song she had written and sung. She was then referred to the investigative judge, who ordered her pre-trial detention in the Kolea prison in Tipaza Province. On March 4, 2024, an appeal was made against the detention order, but the indictment chamber upheld the detention order on March 13, 2024.
On May 26, 2024, the indictment chamber of the Algiers Court of Justice decided to drop the felony charge of “involvement in a terrorist group operating inside and outside the country” under Article 87 bis against her, but retained the misdemeanors of “undermining the security and unity of the country and inciting an unarmed gathering.”
