Authorities step up crackdown on the press

Reporters Without Borders condemned judicial harassment of the news media in Algeria today after 13 journalists appeared before the Sidi M'Hamed court in Algiers in the space of 24 hours on charges for which they face six months to a year in prison. These trials reflect a situation that has prevailed throughout 2004, an especially hard year for the news media in Algeria, the organisation said. Dozens of journalists have received judicial summonses as a result of defamation complaints by the authorities. Threats, censorship, denial of press accreditation, arrests and prison sentences have become their daily lot. "We roundly condemn the application of prison sentences in defamation cases and we call on the Algerian authorities to amend the criminal code and abolish imprisonment for press offences," Reporters Without Borders said, noting that article 144 of the code provides for sentences of two to 12 months in prison and fines for referring to the president in an insulting or defamatory way. The fines requested by prosecutors are also totally disproportionate and likely to result in newspapers being forced to close because of financial problems, the organisation added. Fouad Boughanem, the editor of the daily Le Soir d'Algérie, and three of his journalists, Mohammed Bouhamidi, Hakim Laâlam and Kamel Amarni, were given one-year suspended sentences by the Sidi M'Hamed court on 28 December for "insulting the president" and "libel" and the newspaper was fined 2,500,000 dinars (26,000 euros). They were prosecuted for several articles published before the April 2004 presidential elections about abuse of authority by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and political corruption. Boughanem and Laâlam appeared before the same court on the same day in another case in which the state prosecutor has requested one-year prison sentences for both of them for an article published in the daily Liberté in solidarity with five newspapers that were closed in the summer of 2003. The article is also alleged to have libelled the president. A verdict is expected on 11 January. Le Matin managing editor Mohamed Benchicou, cartoonist Ali Dilem and journalists Sid Ahmed Semiane and Ghada Hamrouche also appeared before the same court on libel charges brought by the national defence ministry over an article by Hamrouche quoting comments made by Dilem and Semiane after an early prosecution by the ministry was postponed. Dilem and Semiane were sentenced to six months in prison while Hamrouche and Benchicou received six-month suspended sentences. Benchicou has meanwhile already been serving a two-year prison sentence since 14 June. In another libel case, the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) brought a prosecution against the dailies El Khabar and El Watan for publishing a letter from police officers criticising the "doings" of the DGSN director-general and secretary-general. Damages of 300 million dinars (more than 3 million euros) is being requested. The prosecutor has requested six-month prison sentences for El Watan managing editor Omar Belhouchet, reporter Salima Tlemçani, who wrote the article, and El Khabar editor Ali Jerri. Redouane Boudjemaa of the daily El Youm has meanwhile received an 18-month suspended sentence for libel over a series of articles criticising the management of public funds, the choice of programmes on the state TV broadcaster ENTV, and ENTV's recruitment methods. The Arabic-language daily Essabah was closed on 1 December. The stated reason was financial problems, but everything indicates that it was closed because it published an article about President Bouteflika's alleged attempts to find out about "illegal" money deposited in Switzerland by Algerians.