French newspaper correspondent finally cleared of libel after 10 years

Reporters Without Borders hails the acquittal today of Arezki Aït-Larbi, the Algeria correspondent of the French dailies Le Figaro and Ouest-France, in a libel suit brought against him in 1997 by Abdelkader Sallat, former director of prisons at the justice ministry. He won the right to a retrial, which began on 23 May, because the original trial was held in his absence and without his knowledge. After the announcement of the verdict, Aït-Larbi issued a statement calling on the justice minister to launch “an administrative investigation to establish who was responsible for these procedural irregularities and exploitation of the judicial apparatus with clan-based complicities for 10 years.” Alluding to his article about mistreatment in Algerian prisons, which prompted the libel suit, he also called for “a judicial investigation” into the “crimes against humanity... revealed during the trial.” ------------------------------------------------------------ 29.05 - Judges urged to protect independent journalists as government makes no move to decriminalize press offences Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the two-month prison sentences imposed on two El Watan journalists in a libel case on 27 May and said it was concerned about the verdict that is due to be issued by an Algiers criminal court tomorrow in the case of Arezki Aït-Larbi, the correspondent of several international news media. “Algeria's journalists will always work under the threat of being thrown in prison until press offences are decriminalized, and since the highest authorities continue to drag their heels on amending the law, we appeal to judges handling press cases to display courage and independence by protecting journalists and reestablishing the right to news and information.” The two El Watan journalists sentenced to two months in prison were editor Omar Belhouchet and reporter Chawki Amari, who were also fined 1 million dinars (10,635 euros). They immediately appealed against the verdict. The case was a retrial of one held before a court in Jijel, 360 km east of Algiers last December, when they received three-month sentences for libelling and insulting the city's prefect in an article a few months earlier accusing him of corruption. They were able to get retrial because the original trial was held in their absence and without their knowledge, and they were not even notified of the prefect's suit. According to their lawyer, Zoubeir Soudani, the case continued to suffer from procedural irregularities. He also deplored a recent supreme court decision that allows plaintiffs who are suing newspapers to present their suit at the place of distribution as well as the place of publication. Jamal Belkadi, one of El Watan's correspondents in Constantine, 290 km east of Algiers, was manhandled by the head of the prefect's security department while taking photos at the scene of a bombing on 16 May. His camera was confiscated and returned two days later. To his surprise, he was summoned to the prefect's office and was notified that he is being investigated for “crossing a security perimeter.” He is due to appear before a judge soon. Other journalists present at the scene of the bombing had no problems. The case involving Aït-Larbi, the correspondent of the French dailies Le Figaro and Ouest-France, is also retrial of one held in his absence and without his knowledge. It concerns a libel suit brought by a prison governor whom he accused of mistreating detainees in a 1994 article. Aït-Larbi did not discover that he had been convicted until May 2006, when he applied for a new passport and his request was initially refused. In April of this year, he found himself being arrested at Algiers airport under a warrant issued in 1997.