World- Algerian President Abdelmadjid
Tebboune pardoned more than 3,000 prisoners on Tuesday as he seeks to win support after
months of political turmoil.
Prisoners who are serving sentences less than six months were pardoned.
Tebboune, elected in December in a vote opposed by a huge
protest movement seeking the replacement of the entire ruling
elite, has said his top priority is to restore confidence.
Thousands of people are still protesting every Friday, but
the numbers appear to have waned since Tebboune's election and
his offer of talks with the opposition.
Last month he also ordered the release of dozens of people
who had been detained for taking part in the protests.
He has also promised a process to offer constitutional
amendments to the public through a referendum in order to give
parliament a bigger role and increase political freedoms.
A court in Algiers on Monday acquitted Samir Benlarbi, an
activist and a leading member of the protest movement who had
been detained for over four months for "harming the national
unity".
Several other activists are still in detention pending trail
in Algiers and other towns, but it was unclear whether the 3,471
people pardoned on Tuesday include those detained for
involvement in the recent political unrest.