A radical Muslim preacher in Algeria was given a six-month jail term on Tuesday for demanding the death of journalist and author Kamel Daoud whom he accused of "apostasy".
The court in Oran also fined Abdelfatah Hamadache Ziraoui 50,000 dinars (450 euros) after he was prosecuted for making death threats.
Friends of Daoud, who said the writer did not wish himself to comment publicly, said he considered to verdict to be a "courageous decision".
In December 2014, Ziraoui urged the North African country's authorities to put Daoud to death, in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
Ziraoui accused Daoud of "apostasy" after the writer, during an appearance on a French television show, criticised the relationship Muslims have with Islam.
The preacher, who campaigns against alcohol and swimwear, charged that Daoud's remarks were tantamount to "a war against Allah, his prophet, the Koran and the sacred values of Islam".
He called for him to be put to death under Islamic law.
Daoud, a columnist with the Quotidien d'Oran newspaper based in the western Algerian city where he lives, was once attracted by Islamist ideology but later turned his back on it.
In 2015, he won the prestigious French Prix Goncourt for a debut novel -- "The Meursault Investigation", a retelling of Albert Camus's classic "The Stranger".
In court on Tuesday, where he appeared unrepresented, Ziraoui stood by his comments.
Daoud's defence team had demanded a conviction but a token fine of one dinar.
Those close to Daoud said he thought the court's decision "will encourage those who believe in freedom of expression".
Last month, Daoud said in a letter published by the French newspaper Le Monde that he was giving up public debate and journalism, after a group of university professors accused him of "fanning the fantasies of Islamophobes".
Ziraoui was unavailable for comment on the verdict which the National Syndicate of Journalists (SNJ) called "excellent", despite saying the penalty could have been "more severe".
SNJ secretary general Kamel Amarni told AFP that a harsher sentence would have been "likely to end the impunity of preachers who call for murder".
"At the time we urged that exemplary punishment be meted out against this terrorist -- you cannot call him anything else -- for calling for a journalist to be murdered," Amarni said.
