On March 12, 2015, Algerian Communications Minister Hamid Grine said in a press conference that authorities had the right to revoke the accreditation of foreign correspondents if the journalists engaged in insult or defamation, according to news reports.
On February 24, 2015, a court in the city of Oran sentenced Mohamed Sharki in absentia to three years and a fine of 200,000 Algerian dinars (US$2,000) on charges of blasphemy, according to news reports and the regional human rights group, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). The journalist, who appealed the sentence,…