French sportswriter sentenced to 7 years for 'glorifying terrorism' in Algeria
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A French journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting.
Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sportswriter, was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa, 'glorifying terrorism,' and 'possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest,' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Sunday.
He was tried and convicted, although prosecutors have not publicly announced the charges and Algerian officials have not commented on the case.
However, authorities have in the past faced criticism from rights advocates who say Algeria uses anti-terrorism laws to target political speech.
Thibaut Bruttin, Reporters Without Borders director general, called authorities' decision to hold Gleizes for 13 months before sentencing an example of 'absurd judicial control' and called the seven-year sentence 'nonsensical.' The press freedom group said Gleizes planned to appeal the sentences on Monday.
The charges against Gleizes, the group said, stemmed from contact he had with the head of a soccer club who was also a member of a political movement that Algeria designated as a terrorist group four years ago.
Gleizes, had contributed to the magazines So Foot and Society, had gone to Algeria last year to report on JS Kabylie, Algeria's most historically dominant soccer team.
JS Kabylie and its successes are deeply enmeshed in the movement to win cultural recognition for Algeria's Amazigh minority in the mountainous Kabylia region. The region has for decades been an epicenter of rebellion in Algeria. Authorities have in recent years clamped down on the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia, a separatist group whose leader has been sentenced to death in absentia for 'attacking national unity.'
The French journalist's sentence comes as relations between France and Algeria reach new levels of hostility. The two countries are sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France's change in position over the status of the disputed Western Sahara.
France's Foreign Affairs Ministry called Gleizes' sentence harsh, saying it planned to provide consular support and had applied to visit him in prison.
While the case was received with shock in France's media, few in Algeria were aware of Gleizes' detention before the sentence was announced.
'This is a murky affair,' said Karim Adli, a sports journalist based in the city of Tizi Ouzou.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
French sportswriter sentenced to prison for ‘glorifying terrorism' in Algeria
A French journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting. Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sportswriter, was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa, 'glorifying terrorism,' and 'possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest,' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Sunday. 4 Christophe Gleizes was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa. SO PRESS – RSF/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement He was tried and convicted, although prosecutors have not publicly announced the charges and Algerian officials have not commented on the case. However, authorities have in the past faced criticism from rights advocates who say Algeria uses anti-terrorism laws to target political speech. Thibaut Bruttin, Reporters Without Borders director general, called authorities' decision to hold Gleizes for 13 months before sentencing an example of 'absurd judicial control' and called the seven-year sentence 'nonsensical.' The press freedom group said Gleizes planned to appeal the sentences on Monday. Advertisement 4 He was tried and convicted, although prosecutors have not publicly announced the charges and Algerian officials have not commented on the case. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images The charges against Gleizes, the group said, stemmed from contact he had with the head of a soccer club who was also a member of a political movement that Algeria designated as a terrorist group four years ago. Gleizes, had contributed to the magazines So Foot and Society, had gone to Algeria last year to report on JS Kabylie, Algeria's most historically dominant soccer team. 4 However, authorities have in the past faced criticism from rights advocates who say Algeria uses anti-terrorism laws to target political speech. SO PRESS-RSF / COURTESY OF THE GLEIZES FAMILY/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement JS Kabylie and its successes are deeply enmeshed in the movement to win cultural recognition for Algeria's Amazigh minority in the mountainous Kabylia region. The region has for decades been an epicenter of rebellion in Algeria. Authorities have in recent years clamped down on the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia, a separatist group whose leader has been sentenced to death in absentia for 'attacking national unity.' The French journalist's sentence comes as relations between France and Algeria reach new levels of hostility. The two countries are sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France's change in position over the status of the disputed Western Sahara. 4 The two countries are sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France's change in position over the status of the disputed Western Sahara. NurPhoto via Getty Images France's Foreign Affairs Ministry called Gleizes' sentence harsh, saying it planned to provide consular support and had applied to visit him in prison. Advertisement While the case was received with shock in France's media, few in Algeria were aware of Gleizes' detention before the sentence was announced. 'This is a murky affair,' said Karim Adli, a sports journalist based in the city of Tizi Ouzou.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Team Trump Is Serious About Unleashing the Espionage Act on the Media
Donald Trump hates leakers. He isn't a fan of journalists, either. He wants to punish them both in response to reporting that early Pentagon intelligence found the administration's recent strikes against Iran weren't as effective as the president has been claiming. 'They should be prosecuted,' Trump said when Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business asked him about his contention that Democrats leaked the intelligence, adding that the administration could attempt to force reporters to reveal their sourcing by saying: 'National Security.' One of the ways Trump has discussed cracking down on leakers and the press is by wielding the Espionage Act, a 1917 law criminalizing the dissemination of sensitive information that could harm U.S. national security or aid a foreign nation. In the months leading up to his second presidency, Trump and several of his advisers and close allies talked about novel ways the Espionage Act could be unleashed not just against government leakers and whistleblowers, but against media outlets that received classified or highly sensitive information, according to two sources involved with such conversations with Trump. 'Why not the press?' Trump has said, one of the sources relays, when commenting on how, in his mind, it makes absolutely no sense that the law has traditionally been used to prosecute leakers but not journalists who publish confidential national security disclosures. Trump's desire to weaponize the Espionage Act hasn't abated six months into his second term. If anything, it's intensified. In recent days, amid a prolonged meltdown over the intel leak about the strikes against Iran to outlets like CNN and The New York Times, the president has privately brought up using the Espionage Act on reporters again, according to one of the sources and also a senior Trump administration official. The president's lieutenants are listening, and — per the administration official — looking for the right case to launch their 'maiden voyage' of an unprecedented type of Espionage Act prosecution — one which would also serve to broadly intimidate news organizations when it comes to publishing classified government information or protecting the identities of their confidential sources. Trump himself is keen on doing this especially if the administration can't convince a journalist to set aside their First Amendment protections and voluntarily give up a source who can't otherwise be conclusively identified by an internal leak hunt. The sources say they don't know if the federal investigation into the Iran bombing intelligence leak — which is being carried out in coordination with Trump loyalist Kash Patel's FBI — will ultimately yield that opportunity. However, government officials and other Republicans close to Trump stress that administration brass at the Justice Department, White House, and elsewhere are actively on the lookout for a test case of a leak that could be used to file criminal charges against American reporters and their publications as supposed 'co-conspirators.' 'All we'd really need is one text or email from a reporter telling a source: 'Can you pull something for me?' or something very direct of that nature,' the senior Trump official says. 'If somebody in the media wasn't careful even for a split second, that could make the difference between a reporter, and a criminal.' When asked for comment on the administration potentially using the Espionage Act against leakers and journalists, Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House, provided a statement to Rolling Stone: 'Leaking classified information is a crime, and anyone who threatens American national security in this manner should be held accountable.' Barack Obama oversaw a steep incline in the Justice Department using the Espionage Act to imprison journalistic sources, cracking open a door that Trump was more than happy to blow open during his first term. 'Obama's Justice Department indicted eight journalistic sources under the Espionage Act, more than all U.S. presidents before him combined,' The Intercept reported in 2019. 'Donald Trump is now surpassing Obama's eight-year record in just over two years in office.' Any Espionage Act prosecution of a journalist or media outlet — simply for publishing information that made Trump mad enough — would be a dark, significant escalation that would invariably face numerous First Amendment challenges. Still, Trump and some of his lieutenants felt they could have cracked down harder during his first four years in office, and they're now hoping to make up for lost time. 'Oh, it'll be brutal,' a conservative lawyer close to Trump said in December, of his coming blitz against the press, whistleblowers, and anonymous leakers. 'We've learned our lessons from the first time and one lesson is you have got to be even more aggressive.' Indeed, when it comes to Trump's crackdowns and intimidation campaigns against not just the media but freedom of speech, in general, the current administration is already making good on its promises to dial up the authoritarian threats and, ultimately, actions. Trump has a personal history with the Espionage Act, beyond musing about weaponizing it to go after leakers and journalists. The Justice Department charged him with over 30 violations of the law related after he hoarded a trove of highly sensitive government documents at his Florida beach club. Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed district judge who oversaw the case, dropped the charges last summer. More from Rolling Stone White House Pushes B.S. About 'Big Beautiful Bill' as Popularity Craters Kristi Noem Secretly Pocketed Cash From Dark Money Group: Report Rick Scott Demands More Cuts to Medicaid, Which His Company Allegedly Scammed Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Associated Press
8 hours ago
- Associated Press
A deck of cards and a mother's tears. Photos show the aftermath of airstrike on a Gaza cafe
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A deck of cards and a giant stuffed toy animal could be seen scattered amongst the blood and rubble after an Israeli strike hit a busy café near the port in Gaza City on Monday. More than 30 people were killed, according to witnesses, hospital and health officials. The mother of one of the victims — Palestinian journalist Ismail Abu Hatab — mourned over her son's body outside the Shifa Hospital where the dead were taken and the injured were treated. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
