One of Algeria’s leading opposition figures, Karim Tabbou, has been arrested and detained by the government in what human rights group say is a new wave of clamp on opposition figures.

Tabbou who was arrested on Friday, according to Algeria’s Human Rights League (LADDH) in a post on its Facebook page,
is one of the “country’s most-recognizable faces during unprecedented mass rallies, led by the Hirak pro-democracy movement, that began in February 2019.”

“The movement has consistently demanded a sweeping overhaul of the ruling system in place since the country’s independence from France in 1962,” it added.

“Mr. Tabbou has been detained since Friday evening. We still don’t know the reasons for this new arrest,” the rights group said.

On Tuesday, Tabbou had published on his Facebook page an “homage” to another activist, Hakim Debbazi, who reportedly died in detention after his arrest in February.

“Physically dead, the martyrs of the just causes are more than alive,” Tabbou had posted.

He went on to blame the Algerian authorities for the death of Debbazi whom he described as a “modest and humble” activist who “committed body and soul to the Hirak.”

Tabbou who leads a small, unregistered opposition party, the Democratic Social Union (UDS), has had several brushes with the authorities in the past.

In March 2020, he was sentenced to one year in jail for “undermining national security,” but the conviction was seen as a backlash from his constant criticism of the army’s involvement in politics.

He was also detained and released on other occasions, including just before last June’s parliamentary election which the Hirak boycotted.

The Hirak protests had forced longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down while demonstrations have continued in a push for deep reforms.

More than 300 people are currently detained in Algeria over links to the Hirak or rights activism, another rights group, the National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD) said in a statement.