A video of two Algerian journalists protesting businesswomen was published, leading to their arrest

Two journalists were detained by Algerian authorities after they released a video showing businesswomen objecting about how they were treated at a government function.

Due to their publication of a video of businesswomen objecting to their treatment at a government-sponsored event, journalists Sofiane Ghirous and Ferhat Omar of the news website “Algerie Scoop” have been detained by Algerian authorities. Local monitoring group National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees said the journalists were held because they broadcast content that the police said “constituted incitement and hate speech.”

Since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune assumed office four years ago, journalists in Algeria have experienced an increase in repression; experts have noted that they may face lengthy prison sentences on spurious accusations. Growing legal costs have also forced the closure of some journalistic organizations. The principal editor Ghirous and the director of the website, Omar, were taken into custody last week. At an innovation event hosted by the Ministry of Education and Professional Training, female entrepreneurs accused the government of “humiliating” and “contemptuously” treating them.

Algeria was recently ranked 139th out of 180 countries by Reporters Without Borders, which attributed the drop to “pressure on independent media and threats to arrest journalists.” Due to “impossible conditions,” the well-known news website Radio M declared in June that it would stop publishing. Ihsane El Kadi, the editor of the website, is serving a five-year prison sentence for taking foreign funding for publishing criticism of the government.

Authorities also searched the Bejaia bookstore Librairie Gouraya over the weekend, stopping the sale of French novelist Dominique Martre’s book “Shared Kabylia.” Martre, the Algerian publisher, and a number of other people, including journalists and activists, were briefly taken into custody. Later that night, the people who had been arrested were freed.

The suppression of free speech occurs as Algeria prepares for a September election in which President Tebboune is probably going to run for reelection.