ALGIERS —
Algerian prosecutors have dropped a case against a 14-year-old girl who was facing trial
in connection with the country's pro-democracy Hirak protest movement, her
lawyer told AFP Monday.
اضافة اعلان
"The prosecution... recognized that it
had been an error (and) dropped the charges," Abdelhalim Khereddine said.
The teenager had been ordered to appear in
court in the eastern city of Annaba on Wednesday, alongside 20 other suspects,
charged with attending an "unarmed gathering".
According to Algerian law, the age of
criminal responsibility is 18 and minors are tried in juvenile courts. Her case
had sparked outrage online.
Rights groups condemned what they said would
have been the first trial of a minor connected to the Hirak movement.
But Khereddine said Monday that prosecutors
had realized the girl was a "witness and not a suspect" in the case.
"What's important is that she have her
rights restored, as guaranteed by the constitution," he added.
Khereddine told AFP that the girl's father
has been in prison for eight months for allegedly belonging to the outlawed
Islamist-inspired movement Rachad.
The
National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD) says nearly 300 people are currently in jail on charges linked
to the Hirak movement, which forced veteran strongman Abdelaziz Bouteflika from
office in 2019.
Many of the detainees are being held over
publications on social media, it says.
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