By T. Thassa

(Algiers )– While the former president of JSK, Cherif Mellal, is on a 17-day hunger strike to denounce his unfair incarceration, the Algerian repressive judiciary system is not willing to abate. As social media becomes a platform for voices of dissent, many are rallying online to support Mellal’s cause, urging international attention towards Algeria’s human rights violations.

 Today, it was the turn of the notorious Algerian-French novelist and essayist Boualem Sansal, multiple award-winning, to be charged. In an expeditious trial, without a defense lawyer, Algerian prosecutors requested a 10- years prison sentence for “undermining the country’s territorial integrity “and “insulting a constitutional body”.

The verdict is expected to be pronounced on March 27^th.