The trial of Algerian historian Mohamed Amine Belghit concluded on Thursday, July 3, with the Dar El Beïda court sentencing him to five years in prison, according to an official media outlet. Last week, prosecutors had called for a seven-year sentence for the academic. Belghit has been in custody since May 3 on charges of «undermining national unity through actions aimed at damaging the symbols of the Nation and the Republic», as well as «endangering the integrity of national unity» and «spreading hate speech and discrimination via information and communication technologies». The charges relate to an interview he gave to a UAE-based media outlet, in which he claimed that the Amazigh movement in Algeria was a «creation of French and Zionist intelligence services». The public prosecutor described his comments as «contrary to constitutional values related to national unity, state sovereignty, and social cohesion». As a reminder, Algiers hosts, funds, and arms the Sahrawi separatist movement (Polisario), which has been carrying out attacks against Morocco for more than four years.
