Event Summary
On 15 December 2025, Algerian political and community activist Lyes Touati was arrested by police in the province of Bejaia following a post on social media. This arrest was accompanied by a search of his home. He was brought before the investigating judge, placed in pre-trial detention and prosecuted under Article 87 bis of the Penal Code, a provision relating to offences classified as terrorist acts.
The prosecution follows a comment posted online, interpreted by the judicial authorities as an apology for or affiliation with an organisation classified as terrorist. However, according to several public sources, the content of the post was, on the contrary, intended as political criticism and did not contain any call for violence or explicit support for an armed group.
The case sparked a mobilisation of civil society and political and trade union organisations, which denounced the criminalisation of political expression and the extensive use of Article 87 bis to repress dissenting opinions. Calls for the immediate release of Lyes Touati were published by several media outlets and international organisations.