Algeria: Journalist’s appeal of seven-year sentence rejected

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s Supreme Court has ruled that a journalist targeted as part of a broader crackdown against pro-democracy protests will remain imprisoned. Defense attorneys for Ihsane El Kadi, the owner of a media company that oversaw Algeria’s now-shuttered news site Maghreb Emergent and radio station Radio M, had asked the court to overturn the journalist’s sentence for taking foreign funds for his media outlets and “inciting acts susceptible to threaten state security.” The Supreme Court rejected the appeals Thursday. El Kadi is one of hundreds of people associated with Algeria’s pro-democracy movement who have faced criminal charges and imprisonment. In April, a lower court gave him a 7-year sentence and ordered his media outlets shut down.