At a press
conference held today at its Paris headquarters with
the Algerian Press Freedom Collective, Reporters Without
Borders reiterated its call to the Algerian authorities
to stop judicial harassment of the privately-owned press
and to release Le Matin editor Mohamed Benchicou, who
has been in prison for exactly one year.
At the same time,
the Algerian Press Freedom Collective and the newspaper
L'Humanité called for a protest rally outside
the Algerian embassy in Paris at 6 p.m. tomorrow, the
anniversary of Benchicou's arrest. Reporters Without
Borders accused the judicial authorities of using the
Tuesday sessions of the magistrate's court in the Algiers
district of Sidi M'hamed to convict journalists of press
offences. "There has not been such a harsh crackdown
on the press for years," the press freedom organisation
said. "The number of independent news outlets is
shrinking fast and press freedom is now in great danger
in Algeria." The organisation said it appealed
to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's common sense, pointing
out that on 3 May the president said, "the national
institutions are not against press freedom." Reporters
Without Borders roundly condemned the application of
prison sentences in libel cases and reiterated its call
for press offences to be decriminalized by means of
a reform of the criminal code, as requested by the UN
special rapporteur for the right to freedom of opinion
and expression. Article 144 (b) of the criminal codes
makes insulting or defaming the president punishable
by 2-12 months in prison, in order to silence his critics,
and permits the imposition of often exorbitant fines
with the sole aim of squeezing independent newspapers
out of existence.
Benchicou, whose
daily newspaper, Le Matin, has been forced to close,
has always been outspoken in his criticism of the authorities.
Although his health has deteriorated in prison, his
request for release on medical grounds was rejected
on 10 April. Five other Le Matin journalists have been
given prison sentences, in a clear sign that the government
is bent on eliminating one of the country's most independent
newspapers for good. In addition to Benchicou's release,
Reporters Without Borders said it also called for the
release of Er-Raï El Aam press group president
Amhed Benaoum, who has been imprisoned since 28 June
2004, an end to all libel prosecutions and a discharge
for all convicted journalists. The latest of many Algerian
journalists to get prison sentences recently is Djamaldine
Benchenouf, who lives in exile in France. The Sétif
appeal court sentenced him in absentia to three years
in prison for two articles he wrote for the Liberté
daily newspaper about embezzlement within the National
Social Insurance Fund and the General Union of Algerian
Workers.
The sentence
was imposed although a lower court investigating judge
shelved the case in July 2004 and Benchenouf never received
any subsequent summons notifying them that it had been
reopened. His family, which is still in Algeria, has
received repeated summonses and have been subject to
other forms of administrative harassment since the outset.
Liberté's former editor, Farid Alilat, was sentenced
in absentia on 24 May to a year in prison and a fine
of 100,000 dinars (1,100 euros) for a series of cartoons
and a column in 2003 that were deemed "insulting
to the president." The managing editor of the evening
newspaper Le Soir d'Algérie, Fouad Boughanem,
and one of his columnists, Hakim Laâlam, were
sentenced by an Algiers court on 17 May to two years
in prison and a fine of 250,000 dinars (2,750 euros)
for libel. The newspaper was also fined the same amount.
Four Le Matin
journalists were given prison sentences in libel actions
on 19 April. They were Abla Cherif and Hassane Zerrouky,
who got two months, and Youcef Rezzoug and Yasmine Ferroukhi,
who got three months. The same day, Benchicou received
an additional five-month prison sentence. Meanwhile,
the Jean Picollec publishing house, which published
a book by Benchicou called "Bouteflika : an Algerian
impostor"
was the target of a recent attack in which its front
door was broken down with a sledge hammer. Nothing was
taken and the only thing damaged inside was a poster
about the book.
Maghreb & Middle-East
Desk
Reporters Without Borders
5 rue Geoffroy-Marie
F - 75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 84
33 1 45 23
11 51 (fax)
middle-east@rsf.org
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