Algerian Media Mogul Gets 3-year Jail Term On Appeal

Algeria's appeal court on Monday confirmed a three year sentence for a media magnate once close to former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, his Ennahar company said

Algiers, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Mar, 2021 ):Algeria's appeal court on Monday confirmed a three year sentence for a media magnate once close to former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, his Ennahar company said.

Anis Rahmani, 49, chief of the top private Ennahar group, was sentenced in November for five years for recording and broadcasting a telephone conversation with a senior intelligence officer.

The sentence was the toughest handed to a press mogul in the North African country.

But the appeal court on Monday dropped some charges including "defamation of the army", according to Ennahar, cutting two years off and resulting in jail time of three years.

Rahmani, whose real name is Mohamed Mokaddem, has admitted to recording the conversation but denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Rahmani has already been in detention since February 2020, and was sentenced in October to six months in prison for defamation in a separate case, concerning the Arabic-language magazine Echourouk al-Arabi.

He faces other charges, including holding foreign bank accounts.

Rahmani's case follows a string of convictions against figures close to Bouteflika, who quit office in April 2019 amid mass demonstrations and pressure from the army, ending two decades in power.

Established in 2012, Ennahar TV broadcasts nationwide and claims to be "the first news channel in Algeria".

It opposed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in his December 2019 successful election campaign.