Algeria Updates: Parties React as Government Offers Concession on Sugar and Cooking Oil
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 7:55
2125 GMT: Ali Belhadj, who was Vice President of the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and fellow detainees have been brought to court from the headquarters of national security. The charges are not clear, although they are thought to be related to this week's protests.
In late 1991, FIS won the first round of Parliamentary elections, but these were called off by the military, who banned the party. Belhadj was jailed from 1991 to 2003 and re-arrested in 2005 for a statement on Al-Jazeera. He was freed in March 2006 under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
2000 GMT: Journalist Mustapha Benfodil has been released after several hours of questioning. He was detained with several demonstrators in a protest in Staouéli (see 1645 GMT).