Over 100 Algerians who have been in prison for taking part in anti-government protests have been pardoned by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday, July, 15th, 2021.
More than 300 activists who participated in the Hirak protests are in prison as of July according to the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights,
In a statement issued from the office of the Presidency, a total of 30 detainees with a final verdict and 71 others who did not receive a sentence due to their activities during the protests by the Hirak movement were pardoned
The statement added that “the prisoners pardoned by Tebboune on the occasion of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha will be released on the evening of July 21.”
This is after Tebboune issued a decree in March calling for early parliamentary elections on June 12, less than a month after dissolving the People’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
Following the June 12 elections, he subsequently granted amnesty for dozens of leading figures of the Hirak movement.
The parliamentary elections were Algeria’s first since the departure of late long-serving President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stepped down in April 2019 after mass protests against his 20-year rule.