The Sidi M’hamed correctional court examined, on Tuesday, the personal legal dispute between the Minister of National Education, Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui, and the Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party, Louisa Hanoune, who faced direct citation charges for defamation. While the plaintiff’s formal withdrawal during the hearing effectively halted the public prosecution, the State Treasury intervened as a civil party to demand 500,000 DA in damages. The court has taken the matter under advisement.
Originally scheduled for early July, the first-instance hearing at the Sidi M’hamed court was pushed back to July 15 at the request of the defense team to allow adequate time to prepare their arguments. During Tuesday’s proceedings, Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui, represented by his legal counsel, officially dropped his personal lawsuit.
In accordance with criminal procedure regulations, the judicial authority, represented by the public prosecutor, acknowledged the withdrawal of the personal complaint and deferred to the application of the law. Consequently, the court declared the prosecution of charges directly stemming from this complaint extinguished.
Despite the dismissal of the primary lawsuit, the case remains partially open. The judicial agent representing the State Treasury registered as a civil party during the trial. Arguing that “reputational and moral damage was inflicted upon the state institution,” the treasury representative demanded 500,000 DA in financial compensation. The correctional court has placed the entire file under deliberation to rule on this remaining civil compensation claim.
Throughout the proceedings, Hanoune’s legal team based their defense on two main pillars. Procedurally, they argued that the disputed remarks targeted specific individuals rather than the state or its institutions as a whole. On the merits of the case, the defendant denied any intent to harm or undermine public institutions of the Republic with her comments. She clarified that she had received a personal citation initiated directly by the minister regarding allegations of slander.
The legal battle between Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui and Louisa Hanoune erupted from public remarks made by the latter during a meeting of her party’s political bureau. She had claimed that “the minister held an official meeting with representatives from 38 education sector unions to urge their backing for two specific candidates in the latest legislative elections.” Hanoune publicly asserted that “the academic sector and its unions are not political parties, and a serving minister has no right to abuse his office to influence electoral decisions.”
Believing himself to be a “target of defamation,” Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui had launched the lawsuit to challenge the accuracy of these allegations and seek redress for “the damage caused to his reputation.”