In growing crackdown on press, authorities ban March issue of Afrique Magazine

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the Algerian authorities' decision to ban the March issue of Afrique Magazine, which has a report about those who disappeared in Algeria in the 1990s, and urged them to reverse the decision and authorize distribution. "We fear this prohibition will be the first in a new series," the press freedom organization said. "While the national media are subjected to countless prosecutions and heavy fines that put them in financial straits, the foreign media are having to confront distribution delays and difficulties in accrediting their correspondents." Noting that this was the first time that Afrique Magazine had been banned since Abdelaziz Bouteflika became president, the organization said it was nonetheless not the first time a foreign publication or broadcast media had been censored in this fashion. "At least five were banned in 2004," Reporters Without Borders said. "The Qatar-based TV news network Al-Jazeera and the newspapers France Soir, Le Figaro, Le Monde diplomatique and Jeune Afrique- L'intelligent all suffered the same fate for covering Algerian issues. We firmly condemn this ban and call on the authorities to rescind it." Afrique Magazine's distributor in Algiers, ADP, said it was notified by telephone by the communication ministry that the March issue could not be distributed anywhere inside Algeria without any reason being given. The management of Afrique Magazine, which is published by the Jeune Afrique-l'Intelligent group, said in a statement yesterday: "Aside from the commercial damage, (we deeply regret) this development in a country which had become one of the few examples of press freedom in the Arab world." Pressure on national media continues Meanwhile, a court in the Sidi M'hamed district of Algiers on 8 March found the Soir d'Algérie newspaper guilty of libelling a bank executive with the Banque de Développement Local in a 2001 report about alleged corruption, fining it 1 million dinars (10,500 euros) and imposing a two-month suspended prison sentence on its managing editor, Fouad Boughanem. "We welcome the court's decision to ignore the prosecutor's request for the newspaper to be suspended for six months," Reporters Without Borders said. "But we firmly condemn the application of prison sentences in libel cases and we call on the Algerian authorities to amend the criminal code and decriminalize press offences." The prosecutor had on 25 January requested a six-month suspended prison sentence for the journalist who wrote the article, a fine of 50,000 dinars (520 euros) and closure of the newspaper for six months.