Josep Borrell leaves Algiers after three-day visit

President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, left Algiers on 9 March 2006 at the end of a visit to Algeria, during which Reporters Without Borders had urged him to be alert to the state of press freedom in the country. Before leaving, Borrell held a press conference at Houari Boumedienne airport saying, ”There is political co-operation. We will continue with it while discussing points for improvement.” “One can be critical in relation to concrete matters, but the state of freedoms is less serious than in other Mediterranean countries,” he stressed. On the issue of imprisoned journalists and in particular, editor Mohamed Benshicu, he added, “Those we talked to explained that one of the cases apparently did not concern an offence of opinion but an offence of a different sort”. But Fatiha Benshicu, wife of the Le Matin editor, jailed in Algiers since 14 June 2004 despite serious ill health said, “One cannot possibly believe the lies told by the Algerian government.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03.03.2006Reporters Without Borders plea to EP President Josep Borrell over free expression in Algeria On the eve of Josep Borrell's official visit to Algeria from 6-12 March 2006, Reporters Without Borders called on the President of the European Parliament to take diplomatic steps to press for human rights and free expression in the country. Mr Josep Borrell Fontelles
President of the European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
B-1047, Brussels
Paris 2 March 2006, Dear Mr President, On the occasion of your official visit to Algeria, from 6 to 12 March 2006, Reporters Without Borders would like to draw your attention to the troubling state of press freedom in the country. Since the re-election of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2004, the Algerian press has been badly affected. The daily lot of a Algerian journalists is to experience censorship, repeated summonses, defamation suits launched by the government and partial judges. There were more than 100 press cases in 2005, which ended in fines or suspended prison sentences. Some are still pending. It would be impossible in this letter to go into the full range of press freedom violations in the country. I will however give you just a few examples. Mohamed Benshicu, the editor of Le Matin, has been imprisoned in al-Harrash in Algiers since 14 June 2004. Despite his worsening state of health, the authorities refuse to provide him with any treatment. He has been tried on or had charges laid against him in nearly 50 press offence cases. Cartoonist Ali Dilem was sentenced on 11 February 2006, to one year in prison and a fine of 50,000 dinars (550 euros) for a dozen caricatures of President Bouteflika, which appeared in the daily Liberté, between October and November 2003. He is also being sued for “defamation” in 24 press cases and has been sentenced to more than nine years in jail. He has lodged an appeal and is free provisionally. Kamel Busaad and Berkan Buderbala, respectively editors of Arabic-language weeklies Errisala and Essafir, were arrested on 12 February 2006, for having reprinted the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed published in the Danish daily Jyllands Posten. Both papers have been suspended and the two men face prison sentences. The regional correspondent of the Arabic-language daily al Khabar and al-Bayadh, south-west of Algiers, Bashir al Arabi was imprisoned for one month for defamation before being released on 21 February 2006. He is currently facing court proceedings in at least six other press cases for making “defamatory comments”, brought by the governors of Naama and al Bayadh. Only yesterday, Hakim Laalam, columnist on the Algerian daily Le Soir d'Algérie, was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 250,000 dinars (2,750 euros) for a column entitled “The spanking”, in which he taunted the Algerian president. These serious breaches of democratic principles as well as the Association Agreement signed between the European Union and Algeria prompt us to make the following recommendations which we regularly put to the authorities in the country: - Amendment of the criminal code to abolish prison sentences for press offences, as urged by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; - An end to the state monopoly in radio and television; - Opening of investigations into physical attacks and threats against journalists, particularly in the cases of local correspondents; - Lifting of a ban on Algerian journalists preventing them from working for more than one media at a time; - Lifting of the monopoly on public advertising. The state-controlled National Publishing and Advertising Agency (ANEP), is able to financially stifle newspapers whose editorial line is critical of the government. - Immediate release of the editor of Le Matin, Mohamed Benshicu. Knowing your commitment to human rights, we trust that you will raise these issues during your discussions with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the Algerian foreign minister. One journalist is behind bars and 18 others, sentenced to prison terms, are in danger of joining him at any time. Yours sincerely, Robert Ménard Secrétaire général