Algerian journalist Rabah Kareche was sentenced Thursday to serve eight months behind bars, his newspaper Liberte said.
It said a court in the southern town of Tamanrasset handed Kareche, who was arrested in April, a one-year term with four months suspended. Taking into account time served, he has four months left in prison.
He had been charged with "spreading false information liable to damage public order" and was accused of posting reports that could trigger "segregation and hatred within society".
Kareche was arrested after reporting that the Tuareg had protested over "expropriation" of their historical lands.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Algeria 146th out of 180 countries and territories in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
