UPDATE ON ALGERIAN JOURNALISTS FIRED/JAILED OVER

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000554 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM AG SUBJECT: UPDATE ON ALGERIAN JOURNALISTS FIRED/JAILED OVER DANISH CARTOONS REF: A. ALGIERS 199 ¶B. ALGIERS 263 1, (SBU) Ref A reported the dismissal of a journalist from the national French-language television channel (Canal Algerie),the editor of the noon news program and an assistant for showing three of the offending Danish cartoons on television. (Note: In Algeria, all broadcast media are state-owned.) Post has since learned from media sources that the latter two individuals were quietly reinstated, but not to their original positions, and remain in the employ of national television. However, the main journalist refused a demotion and has since resigned from Canal Algerie. ¶2. (SBU) In a new incident that just came to our attention, we have learned from media sources that Houaria Khatir, director of national Arabic-language television channel A3, was definitively dismissed in February for airing footage of Canal Algerie's coverage as described above. ¶3. (SBU) Separately, sources in the Algerian union of journalists told us that the two print journalists identified Ref B were quietly released March 18 from pre-trial detention following 34 days behind bars. They remain officially on administrative leave at their newspapers and are forbidden to make editorial decisions, even though they are allowed to write articles for their respective papers. These same sources told us that neither journalist faces additional legal sanctions given the inordinate time they spent incarcerated under pre-trial detention. ERDMAN