Algerian journalist Rabah Karèche has been sentenced to eight months in prison for his reporting on a Tuareg protest, his newspaper Liberté says.

Karèche was handed a one-year-term, with four months suspension. He has already been in prison since his arrest in April.

He was detained after an article he wrote about a minority Tuareg group in the southern Tamanrasset region.

They had held a demonstration about their economic and social marginalization, linked to a land dispute.

Karèche was charged with "spreading false information liable to damage public order".

His arrest and detention triggered protests by journalists that further escalated after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described him as an "arsonist".

Amnesty International has described Karèche's jailing as a blow to press freedom in the North African country.

Source: peacefmonline.com