Algerian human rights lawyer Mounir Gharbi sentenced for his posts on social media
Mounir Gharbi is a member of the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees. He faced legal proceedings for publishing comments on Facebook on April 6, 2022, regarding the announcement of the death and arrest of Madani Lslous during an anti-terrorism operation. On February 16, 2025, Gharbi was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison, including a one-year suspended sentence for “publicly displaying publications likely to harm the national interest” and ” insulting a constituted authority.” He is also currently prosecuted under the Penal Code for “insults and violence against public officials and state institutions” for delivering a plea on September 14, 2020, in which he called for the respect of the fundamental rights of prisoners of conscience he was defending.
Mounir Gharbi is a lawyer and a member of the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, established in 2019 during the Hirak movement to advocate for the release of political and conscience prisoners.
Gharbi is facing two legal proceedings, one related to comments posted on Facebook, and the other concerning the content of a 2020 plea pronounced in the courtroom in which he defended the fundamental rights of the prisoners of conscience he represented.
On April 6, 2022, Gharbi shared two Facebook posts in which he expressed his opinion regarding the authorities’ announcement of the death of Madani Lslous in 2020 and his arrest in 2022. Both events were widely reported in national and international media, including Algeria’s state-owned news agency, Algeria Press Service.
On May 30, 2022, Gharbi was summoned by the judicial police of the Setif Wilaya Security Directorate, where he was questioned about the content of his April 6, 2022 Facebook posts.
On February 16, 2025, the Setif court sentenced Gharbi in absentia to three years in prison, including a one-year prison sentence, and a fine of 200,000 dinars, for the charges of “displaying publications to the public that could harm the national interest” and “contempt of constituted authority,” under aArticles 96 and 146 of the Penal Code.
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