Algeria jails 31 protesters

Algiers: Thirty-one demonstrators detained during marches organised by Algeria’s Hirak protest movement last week have been handed prison sentences, rights group LADDH said Monday.

"Clearly, they (the authorities) have decided to finish off the peaceful Hirak," the rights group’s vice president Said Salhi told AFP. He said 23 people were convicted in Setif, northeast Algeria, and eight others in the Bab El Oued district of the capital Algiers, to jail terms of between 12 and 18 months. Thirteen others also arrested last Friday are being held awaiting trial.