[9][10] In 2016, Cherak found himself confronting Hamid Grine, then the Minister of Communication, who declared a dirty war against the El Khabar, which was critical of the power of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his younger brother Saïd.
[11] To put Bouteflika's fifth term project on a wheelchair, the presidential clan launched a retribution against El Khabar and the headlines of the Algerian independent press in a mock political battle under legal cover, because of El Khabar's editorial line that Cherak orchestrated with Bouteflika's opponents despite difficult circumstances and blackmail attempts.
[17][18] The Secretary-General of the Workers' Party, Louisa Hanoune, was among the prominent political figures who provided support for Cherak, visiting him frequently while he was in the Algerian hospital, and personally supervised his transfer to the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou in Paris for follow-up treatment.
[19][20][21] Cherak died in the morning of Saturday, 17 November 2018 at age 41 after several days in a coma in intensive care at the Djasr Kasentina Hospital in Algiers.
[24][25][26] Cherak was buried in Sidi Khaled Cemetery in Hammadi, his hometown, after Asr prayer before a large crowd of friends, newspaper directors, ministers, and senior Algerian state officials.