Algeria pardons over 1,000 convicts, releases 70 Hirak detainees

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday pardoned over 1,000 convicts and ordered "clemency measures" for 70 people detained over links to the country's Hirak protest movement, to coincide with Ramadan.

Tebboune signed "a presidential decree pardoning 1,076 convicted detainees" on the occasion of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the presidency said, cited by state media.

He also "ordered clemency measures for 70 people accused in matters of public disorder", the statement added.

The 70 Hirak-linked detainees were provisionally released this week and are awaiting trial.

Twice-weekly Hirak pro-democracy protests rocked major cities across the North African nation starting in early 2019, forcing longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down months later.

The protests continued after his fall to demand deep reforms to the country's governing system, until the coronavirus pandemic forced their suspension in March 2020.

The CNLD detainees' rights group said earlier this week that prominent Hirak figure Chems Eddine Laalami, known as Brahim, had been provisionally freed.

Laalami was among the first to demonstrate against Bouteflika's 2019 announcement he would run for a fifth term in office.

Also released was rights campaigner Zaki Hannache, detained in February for allegedly defending terrorist acts and spreading false news.

Until the latest releases, the CNLD had said around 300 people were being held in Algeria in relation to the Hirak, journalism or activism.