NewsRescue
Algeria has put dozens of separatist Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) members on trial for allegedly carrying out terrorist and insurgent acts that endanger the North African country’s security and stability. On Tuesday, a court in the capital, Algiers, requested sanctions for the activists, including life imprisonment, local media reported.
This week’s case is the latest government action against the group, which claims to be advocating for self-determination for the Amazigh people, Berber-speaking indigenous of the Kabylia region east of Algiers who have long been accused by authorities of anti-Arab sentiments and criminal intent.
In 2021, Algeria’s High Council for National Security declared the Paris-based dissident party a terrorist organisation. In September of that year, over a dozen MAK members, including journalists, were imprisoned for igniting wildfires that killed at least 65 people. Members of the movement have previously been accused of working with Morocco and Israel to destabilise Algeria.
Algeria and Morocco have had tense relations for decades, with Algiers backing the Polisario movement, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, which Rabat considers part of its territory. Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Rabat in 2021, citing it of supporting MAK and engaging in hostile activities.
Algeria and Morocco have had tense relations for decades, with Algiers backing the Polisario movement, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, which Rabat considers part of its territory. Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Rabat in 2021, citing it of supporting MAK and engaging in hostile activities.
On Tuesday, a first-instance courtroom in the African nation’s capital sentenced several MAK members, including the organization’s leader, Ferhat Mehenni. According to the Algerian Press Service, Mehenni and six other defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison each, while the remaining 20 received terms ranging from three to 10 years. They were found guilty of “trading war munitions and disseminating false information undermining state security,” according to the state news agency.
“This criminal group embodies the conspiracy being plotted against Algeria by its enemies by spreading ideas that encourage division, discrimination, and hatred,” a public prosecutor stated during the trial, according to the New Arab media site.
The prosecutor also allegedly accused the guilty activists of purchasing a “considerable quantity of weapons” and “plotting with Israel,” but did not define what the conspiracy comprised.
Algeria is one of several countries, including South Africa, to have launched genocide and war crimes claims against Israel at the International Criminal Court over its military operations in Gaza.