Algerian freelance journalist and blogger Mourad At-Mimou was detained on July 7, 2026, over social media posts allegedly critical of the parliamentary elections, that took place on July 2 and had a record low turnout.
Plainclothes police officers took At-Mimou into custody while he was at a café in Tizi-Ouzou, a city in northern Algeria’s Kabylie region, according to a local journalist who is following the case, speaking to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Officers placed him in a car without license plates, and took him to the Azazga police station, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Tizi-Ouzou, where he was held for questioning, according to the local journalist, who added that authorities seized At-Mimou’s phones and transferred them to Algeria’s Central Service for Combating Cybercrime.
At-Mimou previously worked at the privately owned broadcaster Dzaïr TV, where he hosted the Kabyle-language program “Tizi n wassa-a,” before the channel was shut down in 2019. Since then, he has continued to publish political commentary and express his views on his Facebook page of more than 75,000 followers.
In July 2026, CPJ emailed the Ministry of Interior seeking comment on At-Mimou’s arrest but received no reply.