Algeria pardons and releases journalist Ihsane El Kadi

ALGIERS, Algeria -- Algeria has pardoned a journalist who emerged as a key voice during the country’s 2019 pro-democracy protests and was later imprisoned for taking foreign funding for his media outlets and threatening state security.

Ihsane El Kadi was released from prison on Thursday evening, along with eight others who were imprisoned after criticizing the state. Their release coincided with the 70th anniversary of the start of Algeria's revolution, a date that authorities have in the past used as an occasion to offer pardons.

Fetta Saddat, one of El Kadi's lawyers, told The Associated Press that he was released from El Harrah prison after receiving a presidential pardon. He had been serving a sentence for receiving foreign financing for Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, two media projects that were key outlets during the Hirak protests that led to the resignation of octogenarian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019.

He was among 4,000 released on Thursday based on clemency decrees signed by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, according to a statement from his office. Those released included people imprisoned for low level crimes and for “undermining public order,” a charge that Algerian authorities have used to target dissidents in the past.