Merzoug Touati is an Algerian journalist, blogger, and editor of the independent news website Al-Hogra who has faced repeated arrests and imprisonment in connection with his journalistic work and online commentary, since January 2017.
On December 28, 2021, authorities arrested Touati, over his reporting and social media posts about imprisoned activist Mohamed Baba Nadjar, after he appeared at a police station in the northern city of Ghardaïa to respond to a summons. On January 3, 2022, a Ghardaïa court convicted Touati of spreading false news and insulting the police, and sentenced him to one year in prison and a fine of 100,000 Algerian dinars (US$718), according to a local journalist who told CPJ anonymously. Touati was released on June 20, 2022.
He was also briefly detained in June 2020 while covering a protest before being released the following month.
Moreover, Algerian security forces had arrested the blogger at his Béjaïa home on January 18, 2017, according to his employer, lawyer, and news reports. According to the London-based regional daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, security forces interrogated Touati about a YouTube video he published on January 9, 2017, that shows an interview he conducted via teleconference with Hasan Kaabiah, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
A Béjaïa court on January 22, 2017, remanded Touati to administrative detention on charges of "talking to the agents of a foreign power with the intention of causing harm to Algeria's army, diplomatic relations, and financial interests," and "inciting citizens to carry weapons and gather illegally," Dabouz told CPJ in February 2017. According to Algeria's penal code, the first charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and the second charge is punishable by death. In Algeria, administrative detention can be renewed for up to 44 months.
On June 21, 2018, a Béjaïa court of appeals sentenced Touati to seven years in prison on charges of “intelligence with a foreign power,” according to news reports. The blogger was initially handed a 10-year prison sentence in May 2018, before an appeals judgment reduced his sentence, according to the reports. Yanis Adjlia, an activist advocating for the journalist’s freedom, told CPJ that Touati is also prohibited from leaving Algeria for five years after his release. According to the reports, he was also fined 50,000 Algerian dinars (US$425).
Touati began serving his sentence at the Oued Ghir prison in Béjaïa. According to media reports and Amnesty International, Touati was held in solitary confinement and had to purchase his own food because authorities barely fed him. On November 3, 2018, Touati was transferred to a prison in the Algerian province of Bouira, according to news reports and a Facebook post by his lawyer, Salah Dabouz.
Touati was released in March 2019.
In late 2022, CPJ emailed the Algerian Ministry of Interior for comment but did not receive any reply.