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Algeria jails Canadian researcher for 㽶Ƶֱpublishing secret information㽶Ƶֱ

Raouf Farrah works for an international anti-crime non-governmental organization
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The lawyer for a a Canadian researcher detained in Algeria since February says his client has been sentenced to two years in prison. Raouf Farrah, who was born in Algeria but came to Canada as a teenager, is scheduled to stand trial Aug. 8 in the city of Constantine. Farrah appears in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Farrah family *MANDATORY CREDIT*

A Canadian researcher detained in Algeria since February was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison, according to his lawyer.

Kouceila Zerguine said Raouf Farrah has also been fined the 200,000 Algerian Dinar, around CAD$2,000.

㽶ƵֱAn appeal has been filed against this decision,㽶Ƶֱ Zerguine wrote in a text message Tuesday.

Zerguine said Farrah㽶Ƶֱs father, Sebti Farrah, a Montreal-area resident, was given a one-year suspended sentence by the same court in the eastern Algerian city of Constantine.

Farrah, who studies migration and criminal economies for an international anti-crime non-governmental organization, had been charged with publishing secret information and being paid to commit offences against public order.

Farrah㽶Ƶֱs employer, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, condemned the sentence, saying the charges were proven to be without merit during a one-day trial earlier this month.

㽶ƵֱAlthough we were being realistic about the potential trial outcomes, today㽶Ƶֱs result is particularly difficult to accept, given that the prosecution failed to present any legal case against Raouf and Sebti,㽶Ƶֱ Mark Shaw, the organization㽶Ƶֱs director, said in a news release.

㽶ƵֱAny free and fair trial would have found Raouf and Sebti, as well as the other co-defendants, innocent. Instead, we are facing a scenario where Raouf faces more jail time on top of the almost six months in custody that he has already unjustly served, while his 67-year-old father, a respectable law-abiding citizen, now has a criminal record.㽶Ƶֱ

Eric Goldstein, deputy director of Human Rights Watch㽶Ƶֱs Middle East and North Africa division, said the fundamental problem with the charges faced by the Farrahs and Algerian journalist Mustapha Bendjama, who was tried and sentenced alongside them, is the nature of the charges themselves.

㽶ƵֱYou can tell by looking at the nature of the charges that these are manifestly political charges that can be used to fit any occasion when the government wants to punish anyone,㽶Ƶֱ Goldstein said in an interview. 㽶ƵֱWe are looking at a researcher for an internationally-known NGO and a journalist, both of whom are now facing two years in prison for doing their jobs.㽶Ƶֱ

Goldstein said the court found that Bendjama had received money from foreign institutions with the intent of committing acts that can disturb public order, because he was paid to do research for Farrah, adding that Algerian authorities can arbitrarily declare information to be classified.

㽶ƵֱWith charges that are so vague, it㽶Ƶֱs really hard to talk about trials that are fair, or a justice system that is fair, because anything you do can be turned against you,㽶Ƶֱ he said.

Bendjama testified that during his interrogation, authorities used a screwdriver to pry his fingers open and place one on his phone㽶Ƶֱs fingerprint scanner to open it, Goldstein said, adding that police subjected him to all-night interrogations and threats of violence.

Farrah㽶Ƶֱs conviction comes amid a larger crackdown against Algeria㽶Ƶֱs pro-democracy movement and follows the flight of a prominent pro-democracy activist, Amira Bouraoui, from the country, Goldstein said.

Both Farrah and Bendjama have denied helping Bouraoui, who was banned from leaving Algeria, to flee.

Born in Algeria, Farrah moved to Canada when he was 18. He lived in Montreal, where he studied at the Université de Montréal, before getting a master㽶Ƶֱs degree at the University of Ottawa.

The Algerian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday.

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