03-07-2025
Algeria jails historian who questioned Amazigh culture
He was arrested on May 3 for 'the crime of undermining national unity'Belghit's lawyer Toufik Hichour said on Facebook that a court sentenced him to five yearsALGIERS: An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced historian Mohamed Amine Belghit to five years in prison for offending national symbols, his lawyer said, after remarks questioning the existence of the native Amazigh sparked outrage in the North African country when he said in a recent interview that 'the Amazigh language is an ideological project of Franco-Zionist origin,' and that 'there's no such thing as Amazigh culture.'He was arrested on May 3 for 'the crime of undermining national unity' by targeting 'symbols of the nation and the republic' as well as 'disseminating hate speech,' the prosecution said at the Thursday, Belghit's lawyer Toufik Hichour said on Facebook that a court outside the capital Algiers sentenced him to five years behind prosecutor had requested seven years jailtime and a fine of 700,000 dinars ($5,400).Algeria in 2016 granted official status to Tamazight, the language of the Amazigh people, who are also known as Berber new year celebration, Yennayer, was added in 2017 to the list of national a university professor, is no stranger to remarks often cause uproar, with critics accusing him of historical revisionism and hostility toward the Amazigh people.
