June 16, 2004-Mohamed
Benchicou, publisher of the French-language daily Le
Matin, was sentenced by an Algiers court to two years
in prison on Monday, June 14, for violating Algeria's
currency exchange laws, according to Youssef Razzouj,
Le Matin's editor.
Benchicou was
also ordered to pay a large fine, totaling several hundred
thousand dollars and has filed an appeal, Razzouj told
CPJ. Benchicou was taken into custody immediately after
the verdict was announced to begin serving his sentence.
According to Razzouj, the case against Benchicou was
launched in August 2003 when he was returning to Algeria
from France. Authorities in the airport questioned Benchicou
about credit notes, which are similar to certified bank
checks of Algerian dinars issued by an Algerian bank,
that were in his possession. Le Matin and other private
Algerian media have accused the Algerian government
of filing the case against Benchicou to punish him for
his newspaper's relentless criticism of President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika and other officials.
In particular,
Benchicou blamed Algeria's interior minister, Yazid
Zerhouni, for being behind the prosecution, according
to Agence France-Presse. A Le Matin article in 2003
alleged that Zerhouni was involved in torturing detainees
while he was a commander in military security in the
1970s. Several local journalists said Zerhouni alluded
to Benchicou last year at a press conference in Djelfa,
saying he would "pay" for the reports.
Algerian journalists
described the punishment as extremely harsh, noting
that imprisonment is rare in such cases. In the months
since Benchicou was charged, the police and prosecutors
have summoned the journalist and other Le Matin staff
members for questioning several times and have accused
Benchicou of defaming government officials, including
Bouteflika. Several defamation suits have been brought
against the paper. In August 2003, Le Matin was among
several private newspapers-all critical of the government-that
were told to pay debts owed to the state-owned printer
within 72 hours or they would no longer be published.
Benchicou also angered officials in February of 2004,
when he published a book titled Bouteflika, An Algerian
Fraud.
In recent weeks,
Algerian authorities have lodged numerous defamation
suits against journalists who have reported on corruption
and other official misdeeds, according to local journalists.
In late May, another Algerian journalist, Hafnaoui Ghoul,
who writes for the Algerian dailies El-Youm and Djazair
News, was jailed on defamation charges. "This case
smacks of political score settling," said CPJ Executive
Director Ann Cooper. "We call on Algerian authorities
to cease their campaign of judicial harassment against
the media."
CPJ is a New
York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that
works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more
information about press conditions in Algeria, visit
http://www.cpj.org/
New York,
16 June 2004
Pour tout
renseignement complémentaire, veuillez contacter
Agnès Devictor, RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris
75009, France, tél: +33 1 44 83 84 84, téléc:
+33 1 45 23 11 51, courrier électronique: norddelafrique@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org/
**Updates IFEX alerts
on the Benchicou case of 15 June, 12, 9 and 3 September
and 27 August 2003; for further information on the Ghoul
case, see alerts of 11 June, 31 and 28 May 2004** |
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