Journalist Hafnaoui Ghoul receives six-month prison sentence for defamation

Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of Hafnaoui Ghoul, a correspondent for the daily El Youm in Djelfa, 150 kilometres south of Algiers. The journalist was placed in preventive detention on the evening of 24 May 2004 and was later sentenced to six months in prison with no parole for defamation. The organisation condemns the government's ongoing efforts to silence the press throughout the country. "Unfortunately, the fears raised by Reporters sans frontières on 24 May concerning Hafnaoui Ghoul were well founded. After receiving death threats because of his investigations, the journalist has now been imprisoned following a summary trial. His incarceration is an attempt to silence local correspondents, who continue to pay a heavy price for reporting on corruption by the authorities and local public figures. While the government continues to target private media owners and journalists in Algiers, it also continues to increase pressure on the media in the provinces. The authorities strive to ensure that the country's image in the press matches the official line, which claims that the crisis has ended and everything is going well in the country since President Bouteflika's re-election. This situation is very dangerous for press freedom," the organisation said. On the evening of 24 May, Ghoul was arrested by plainclothes police officers while leaving his home. Held under a committal order on the basis of a complaint filed by Djelfa's police chief, the journalist was incarcerated immediately. On 26 May, following a summary trial, he was sentenced to six months in prison with no parole and fined 50,000 dinars (approx. US$700; 600 euros). Moreover, he still faces trial for several other defamation complaints filed by the police chief. The complaints relate to interviews in the Le Soir d'Algérie and Le Matin dailies and a report published in El Djazaïr News in which Ghoul criticised the repression of correspondents and corruption cases in Djelfa. A historian who runs the Algerian League of Human Rights' (Ligue algérienne des droits de l'homme, LADDH) regional office, Ghoul had been under house arrest since 15 February 2003. He has faced ongoing pressure from the local administration and security services because of his reports, including stories on the deaths of 13 babies in Djelfa's hospital and the local police chief's abuse of power. Reporters Without Borders is also very worried about the ongoing persecution of the daily Le Matin. The organisation hopes Algiers' El Harrach tribunal will end the long campaign of harassment against the paper when "Le Matin" director Mohamed Benchicou appears before the court on 31 May.