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An Algerian court on Tuesday sentenced opposition politician Fethi Ghares to two years in prison over a Facebook post deemed insulting to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, his lawyer told AFP.
Ghares, a prominent secular leftist figure, received the sentence “for remarks concerning the president,” said his lawyer, Abdelghani Badi. He noted that the court did not order Ghares’s immediate detention and confirmed that the defence team would appeal the verdict.
According to another lawyer, Fetta Sadat, Ghares was also fined 300,000 dinars (about $2,300). Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term and the same fine.
Ghares faced charges of “insulting a state institution” and “spreading false or malicious information likely to harm public order or security.”
The 50-year-old has previously faced similar accusations. In May 2024, he was handed a one-year sentence in another case but remained free pending appeal to the Supreme Court.
He was first arrested in 2021 and sentenced to prison for allegedly insulting the president, with all charges linked to social-media posts.
A long-time critic of the government, Ghares joined Algeria’s pro-democracy Hirak movement in 2019, which helped force former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power. His party, the Democratic and Social Movement — the successor to the Algerian Communist Party — was officially banned in February 2023.
