Anis Rahmani Wiki – Biography
Anis Rahmani was close to the president who was forced from power after mass protests in 2019.
Rahmani, whose real name is Mohamed Mokaddem, admitted to recording the conversation but denied any criminal wrongdoing, reports AFP news agency.
He is the latest in a series of powerful figures in the ousted president’s entourage to have been given prison sentences.
His real name was Mohamed Mokaddem, Rahmani, close to the entourage of the former ousted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was prosecuted for having recorded and broadcast in October 2018 a telephone conversation he had with a colonel intelligence.
Anis Rahmani Age
Anis Rahmani is 49-years-old.
Charged & Arrested
He was accused of recording and broadcasting a phone conversation with a senior intelligence officer without his consent.
Rahmani, whose real name is Mohamed Mokaddem, admitted to recording the conversation but denied any criminal wrongdoing, reports AFP news agency.
The charges Rahmani faced included “defamation of the army”.
The head of Ennahar TV, which calls itself the first news channel in Algeria, will be joining many associates of the former president in jail.
In 2019, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to resign as president by mass protests against him after he announced he intended to stand for office for a fifth term.
Subsequently, an investigation into corruption during Mr Bouteflika’s time in office led to a string of his associates being jailed.
Ex-ministers, a former police chief and the rumoured secret child of Mr Bouteflika have all been jailed.
It is a heavy sentence symbols. Almighty under Bouteflika era, Anis Rahmani, journalist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ennahar, the first group of Algerian private media, ended up being caught by justice. He was sentenced Sunday, November 15, to five years in prison, according to Ennahar, a sentence of unprecedented severity against a media owner in Algeria.
Rahmani was accused of “insulting an officer during the performance of his duties” , “defaming the army” , “insulting body corporate” and “breach of privacy by recording a communication without the agreement of the concerned ” , according to Ennahar group site.
The director of the popular chain Ennahar TV was also charged with “undermining national unity” and “undermining territorial integrity” . In detention since February Rahmani also fined of 100,000 dinars (about 650 euros).
At his trial, which was held by videoconference from Kolea prison, west of Algiers, the prosecutor had requested a sentence of ten farm. During the discussion, Mr. Rahmani has maintained his innocence and denied the charges against him. He assured that his “moral and legal responsibility [the] had pushed to defend its journalists taking certain provisions” .
Among these provisions, he admitted “having recorded the communication with the superior officer and having broadcast it during the arrest of the journalist who had written on the subject” .
On October 15, the ousted magnate had already been sentenced to six months in prison for defamation in a case between him and Yassine Fodhil, director of the Arabic-language magazine Echorouk El-Arabi.
Formerly close to the Bouteflika clan, in particular to Saïd Bouteflika, brother and powerful adviser to the former strongman of the country, Mr. Rahmani is also the subject of an investigation for corruption. He is also prosecuted in several cases, in particular for “acquisition of undue advantages” and “holding of bank accounts abroad” .
He has been targeted by other defamation complaints, according to Algerian media. Known as a specialist in security issues, Mr. Rahmani rose to fame thanks to Ennahar TV. Launched in 2012, this non-stop news channel prides itself on being “the first news channel in Algeria” . But it has been criticized for being a weapon against opponents of the Bouteflika “system” .
During the election campaign for the presidential election in December 2019, the chain had attacked the candidate Abdelmajid Tebboune, became president. The fall of Mr. Rahmani then seemed inevitable. After the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, driven from power in April 2019 by a popular uprising, the Algerian justice launched a series of investigations for corruption.
Convictions in series of harsh prison sentences have revealed the extent of corruption in the seraglio of the former head of state, affecting former ministers, senior officials and businessmen.
