Blogger gets two-year jail term for insulting President

 

An Algerian journalist and blogger was sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to pay a fine for insulting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a defence lawyer said Monday.

Mohamed Tamalt’s lawyer, Amine Sidhoum, told AFP that he would lodge an appeal against the prison sentence and the fine of 200,000 dinars ($1,800, 1,630 euros).

Tamalt, who lives in London, was arrested in June during a visit to Algiers on charges of “offending the president of the republic” and Algeria’s constitutional bodies, under articles of the penal code, the lawyer said.

The 42-year-old also runs a website and reportedly posted on Facebook allegations about the president, Algerian officials and members of their families.

He was liable to a fine under the penal code but not a prison term, according to the lawyer.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the ruling.