Algerian opposition leader Fethi Ghares arrested

Fethi Ghares’ arrest comes shortly before the presidential elections on 7 September, as President Tebboune prepares to run for a second term.

At the same time, the restrictions imposed on Karim Tabbou, another emblematic figure of the 2019 Hirak, have just been tightened. It also comes at a time when the restrictions imposed on Karim Tabbou, another emblematic figure of the 2019 Hirak, have just been tightened. The National Committee for the Release of Prisoners (CNLD) reported the arrest of Fethi Ghares, a leader of the banned Democratic and Social Movement (MDS), at his home in Algiers, and his transfer to the central police station.

His wife said that Fethi Ghares was arrested by three plainclothes police officers at his home. ‘They told him he had to explain himself, but they didn’t give him a summons’, she stated in a video posted on Facebook. While the officers assured his wife that he would be taken to a nearby police station, other officers told her that he was not there when they arrived. No formal statement has been made about his arrest.

49-year old Fethi Ghares is a well-known left-wing activist who took part in the Hirak protest movement in 2019, which demanded far-reaching changes to the system in place since independence in 1962.

Previously arrested at the end of June 2021 during the Hirak protests, which contributed to the resignation of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, he was sentenced to two years in prison at first instance in January 2022. In March 2022, he was released following a reduced sentence on appeal.

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Ghares faced a number of charges, including ‘attacking the person of the President of the Republic’ Abdelmadjid Tebboune, ‘insulting a constituted body’, as well as ‘disseminating information prejudicial to national unity’ and ‘public order’.

His left-wing movement, the MDS, which succeeded the Algerian Communist Party, was banned in February 2023.
His arrest comes around two weeks before the presidential elections, in which President Tebboune will seek another term in office. Fethi Ghares’