Algeria: Memes page administrator arrested for making fun of president

Walid Kechida, the creator of the Facebook page ‘Hirak Memes’, was presented today to the court of Sétif for posting memes on Facebook. He is accused of contempt and offence to the president of the republic amid a totalitarian crackdown on free speech in the country.

According to the latest information received by the Algiers Herald, he has been put under arrest, pending a verdict.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a notoriously corrupt politician appointed as president of the country on the 12th of December 2019, has been struggling to be accepted by the majority of Algerians who denounce his illegitimacy. With a shady past, he is accused of narcotrafficking as well as embezzling funding meant for social housing, among other allegations, while Minister of Housing.

Since the appointment of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, over a 1,200 pro-democracy activists have been arrested. Journalists and even Facebook users have also been arrested for criticizing the regime. It appears that in Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s “new Algeria”, merely having an opinion is a crime. Increasingly rejected by the Algerian population, the regime’s last option is to instigate a climate of fear. Dozens of activists are being summoned by the authorities for interrogation on almost a daily basis, but will that kill the pro-democracy movement? Unlikely. On social media, the trend suggests, once the Covid-19 crisis is over, the protests will resume with more strength.

Earlier today, the NGO Amnesty International called out the regime’s repressive practices.