TALLY OF ALGERIAN JOURNALISTS IN JAIL

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000367 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM AG SUBJECT: TALLY OF ALGERIAN JOURNALISTS IN JAIL REF: A. MCNICHOLAS/EMBASSY ALGIERS E-MAIL OF FEBRUARY 28 ¶B. ALGIERS 333 ¶C. ALGIERS 324 ¶D. ALGIERS 263 ¶E. ALGIERS 199 ¶1. (SBU) There are currently three Algerian journalists in prison. Eighteen other journalists have been sentenced to prison terms but are free pending appellate court rulings on their appeals. In prison the longest is Mohamed Benchicou, former publisher of the now-defunct Le Matin newspaper, who is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for illegal transfer of funds related to the operation of his newspaper. (Although many believe the real offense he committed was his vociferous published attacks on President Bouteflika.) He is scheduled to complete his term June 14. However, he could be tried on any number of the 32 charges pending against him. Kamel Boussad, editor of the weekly Arabic-language newspaper Errissala, and Berkane Bouderbala, editor of the weekly magazine Essafir, are both in pre-trial detention (Ref D) for publishing the Danish cartoons that have angered the Muslim world. The detention of the former began February 8 and that of the latter began February 11. ¶2. (U) A fourth journalist, Bachir Larabi, a reporter for the Arabic-language daily El-Khabar, was released February 21 after exactly one month in jail. He had been the object of complaints filed against him for defamation by the wilaya (province) of El-Bayadh and by El-Farah, a local NGO. ¶3. (U) A number of independent newspapers have denounced the government's harassment of the press. Several reporters and organizations have called for the release of all jailed journalists. Separately, the Algerian authorities refused to distribute the February issue of the French publication Paris Match because it published an interview with Ali Dilem, cartoonist for the French-language newspaper Liberte, who had strongly criticized the government for its campaign against the press. ACTION RECOMMENDATION -------------- ¶4. (SBU) We continue to raise issues of press freedom with the GOA on our own (Ref B is a recent example) and, in a recent El-Khabar interview, Ambassador stressed freedom of the press as an indispensable ingredient for all democracies. However, we believe it would be useful to raise our concerns on an instructed basis. We also believe that A/S Welch should raise our concerns with FM Bedjaoui when he next visits Algiers, emphasizing that actions against the press harm Algeria's image abroad. ERDMAN