MORE JOURNALISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN NEW "BLACK

UNCLAS ALGIERS 001242

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AG
SUBJECT: MORE JOURNALISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN NEW "BLACK
TUESDAY"

REF: ALGIERS 1149


1. Three journalists were sentenced June 14 for defamation in
separate cases before the local Algiers tribunal. The
cartoonist Ali Dilem of Liberte newspaper was sentenced to
six months in prison and a DA 250,000 ($3,400) fine, while
the journalist Kamel Amarni and the publication director
Fouad Boughanem of Le Soir d'Algerie were sentenced to six
and two months, respectively. Each was also fined DA
250,000. This is Boughanem's and Amarni's second sentencing
(ref A) since receiving two-month sentences and DA 250,000
fines in May, which they are appealing. These criminal trials
for defamation took place May 31 and culminated in
yesterday's sentencing.


2. Amarni and Boughanem from Le Soir d'Algerie were sentenced
for Amarni's 2003 article entitled "The Coup," in which the
reporter wrote that then-presidential candidate Abdelaziz
Bouteflika "was using the state's means for electoral
purposes."


3. Dilem was sentenced for drawing a cartoon in which he
criticized army generals. The cartoon alluded to a telethon
organized after the 2001 Bab El-Oued floods in Algiers. One
man in the cartoon says, "It seems that even generals have
donated to the telethon." The other replies, "Those are not
called donations; they're restitutions!" The cartoon implies
that generals were returning money to the state that had been
unlawfully taken. (Note: The former publication director of
Liberte, Abrous Toudert, was acquitted of similar charges.)


4. There are currently two Algerian journalists in prison and
nine sentenced to prison terms while awaiting appeal,
including the earlier appeals of Boughanem and Amarni. These
journalists have all been convicted for defamation under the
penal code, in these cases for defamation against government
officials.

ERDMAN