ANOTHER ALGERIAN FACES PRISON OVER DEFAMATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001558 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV AG SUBJECT: ANOTHER ALGERIAN FACES PRISON OVER DEFAMATION Classified By: Ambassador Robert Ford; reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (U) According to press reports on October 18, a local journalist for the Arabic paper el-Fadjr in Djelfa, Tallal Dhif, received a six-month prison sentence from a Djelfa court on defamation charges stemming from articles he wrote about corruption in Djelfa in 2004. Algerian press reports noted that Dhif's articles exposed corruption at the provincial agricultural affairs office that ultimately resulted in senior officials there being jailed on corruption charges. ¶2. (C) Ambassador and IO called on el-Fadjr October 24 to hear el-Fadjr's editor's explanation. The editor, Hadda Hezzam, and the reporter Dhif, who came up from Djelfa, noted that Dhif was sentenced even though he was not present at the court hearing. Dhif claimed he had received no court summons and hence did not know about the court session. (He observed that he had received previous summons and had attended four sessions of the court case previously. Hezzam noted that it is not unusual for the Algerian courts to fail to notify persons that they are due in court.) Dhif said that after publication of his articles Djelfa police arrested the head of provincial agricultural affairs office and other officials, who were subsequently condemned for embezzlement. He also observed that while they remain in jail their appeals have not yet concluded. Dhif said he remains free while he appeals his case, and he is hopeful that ultimately he will be acquitted. ¶3. (C) Over dinner October 22 Ambassador told a justice ministry counselor and three judges that the use of defamation laws to imprison journalists who write about corruption was both hurting Algeria's reputation and limiting the ability of the press to address governance problems. The judge who presides over the top court in Bejaia was adamant that prison sentences were appropriate since so few journalists follow professional standards. Ambassador agreed that journalistic standards should improve in Algeria and he detailed programs the U.S. is providing. He pointed out, however, that Algeria's independent press played a vital role in informing the public even if some journalists should be more professional. He urged the officials to consider whether issuing fines instead of prison time would not improve Algeria's image and compel newspaper editors to more carefully consider the quality of their reporting. The justice ministry counselor finally agreed that issuing fines, instead of prison sentences, might make sense as a general policy. ¶4. (C) On October 23 Ambassador told Algerian Human Rights Commission President Farouk Ksentini, who is appointed by President Bouteflika, that the el-Fadjr case seemed especially curious since an Algerian court had confirmed what Dhif had written concerning corruption at the Djelfa agricultural office. The Ambassador said the GoA looked nasty and that, in general, sentencing journalists to prison for defamation was extreme. Ksentini, a lawyer, immediately agreed. He said his Commission earlier this year had urged the president to issue instructions to the justice ministry that judges should stop issuing prison sentences for defamation. Ksentini claimed that the 2006 amnesty Bouteflika issued to all Algerian journalists then in jail was aimed in the same direction. He noted that Algerian judges, in contrast, were slow to get the message and still susceptable to local influences. ¶5. (C) Lawyer Fatima Benbraham, who in the past has defended journalists charged with defamation, told Ambassador October 23 that Algerian law makes any statement that "touches on the dignity or honor of another individual" liable to conviction of defamation. She said that Algerian law has no clause that exempts a reporter if what he/she reports is actually shown to be true, and such a limitation would be the biggest contribution to reducing the threat hovering over Algerian journalists now. ¶6. (C) Comment: The el-Fadjr case is not the only defamation case in recent weeks. Another Djelfa journalist, Ouahid Oussama at the Arabic paper el-Bilad, is to go on trial in November on charges for writing about articles critical of the Djelfa school administration, according to press reports. Our sense is that these cases are locally driven -- they do not come out of the ministry of interior or justice in Algiers. That said, the only systemic way to solve the problem appears to amend Algerian law. With this in mind, Embassy will organize a workshop involving legal experts who ALGIERS 00001558 002 OF 002 can discuss how defamation is treated in more open societies. Ksentini from the GoA's human rights commission liked this idea and pledged he would support it. FORD