ACTIVISTS across the world will join protests tomorrow as part of an international day of action demanding the freedom of Louisa Hanoune and other political prisoners held in Algeria.

Ms Hanoune was detained by a military court on May 9 amid growing anti-government protests. They were sparked in February by former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid to seek a fifth term in office.

He stood down in April but protests have continued as Algerians seek to sweep aside the entire corrupt ruling elite including interim President Abdelkader Bensalah.

Ms Hanoune’s supporters insist she should be freed. They consider her arrest an “arbitrary and abusive act” and a “a violation of the democracy the movement has been calling for since it began on February 22.”

The general secretary of the Trotskyist Workers’ Party is well-known for opposing the dissolution of the Islamic Salvation Front. The army moved against it and dissolved the party when it seemed it would win the 1992 Algerian general election.

Organisers of the Free Louisa Hanoune campaign said she “has been known in the world and for years for her stance and her uncompromising fight in defence of democracy, freedoms, women’s rights and always on the side of the people and the oppressed.”

Demonstrations will take place in Paris, London, and Algiers, among other cities.