Freedom for Ihsane El Kadi

We, media and newsroom leaders from various countries around the world, consider that the imprisonment of Ihsane El Kadi, director of Radio M and Maghreb Émergent, on manifestly aberrant grounds, constitutes an intolerable attack on press freedom. in Algeria. It seriously undermines the right to information, which is a right of all citizens, a condition of freedom of opinion and expression and of democracy.

The arrest on the night of December 24 of Ihsane El Kadi, presented with handcuffs – quite a symbol of the criminalization of the press –, and the sealing of the media Radio M and Maghreb Émergent by the Algerian authorities are unacceptable. How can entire teams be prevented from exercising their social function which is so useful to societies?

Algeria was already ranked 134th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index. We call on Algeria to show its attachment to law and democratic values ​​and not to fall into systematic repression. We call on all media professionals in the world to join us in stopping and rolling back this wave of repression that is descending on the press in Algeria.

Alongside Reporters Without Borders (RSF), we call on the Algerian authorities to release Ihsane El Kadi without delay, to drop all charges against him, and to return to Radio M and Maghreb Émergent their working tools. so that the feathers and the voices can resume their activity. Freedom for Ihsane El Kadi, freedom for Radio M and Maghreb Émergent, freedom for Algerian journalists.

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