Christophe Gleizes, 36, who contributes to the So Foot magazine, was ordered by the court in Tizi Ouzou to be immediately incarcerated and will appeal the ruling on Monday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.
Legal sources told AFP Gleizes had been taken to Tizo Ouzou prison straight after his conviction. Once he had filed his appeal, the case would be heard in October at the earliest, they added.
“Christophe Gleizes has been subjected to an absurd judicial control order for over a year,“ said Thibaut Bruttin, RSF’s director general.
Gleizes travelled to the country and Tizi Ouzou to write about the local football club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie, named after Algeria’s Kabylia region, home to the Berber Kabyle people.
“There is no justification for Christophe having to endure this ordeal. How can one justify punishing a journalist for practising his profession with integrity?”
As well as “glorifying terrorism”, he was convicted of “possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests”, RSF said.
“The first two interactions between Christophe Gleizes and this individual occurred well before this designation,“ it said, adding he had also not concealed contacting the person again in 2024 as part of preparations for the report.
The jailing of Gleizes comes as a time of growing tension between Algeria and former colonial master France.
Macron angered Algiers in July 2024 when he backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front.
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