MUSLIM PARTY TRIES NEW APPROACH TO DECRIMINALIZE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000466

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KPAO AG
SUBJECT: MUSLIM PARTY TRIES NEW APPROACH TO DECRIMINALIZE
DEFAMATION

REF: A. ALGIERS 291

B. ALGIERS 388

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas F. Daughton;
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) SUMMARY: The Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP),
the Muslim Brotherhood party that is one of the members of
the ruling coalition in Algeria, proposed in parliament on
April 22 to cancel a 2001 law that constitutes the basis for
the criminalization of religious and journalistic speech.
The effort, which would include the decriminalization of
press defamation, is a resubmission of a bill the MSP
introduced in 2004. At the time, the bill was not even put
on the agenda for discussion in parliament. This time,
according to our contacts within the MSP, the party chose to
use the media to generate debate, and the initiative was
featured prominently in the Arabic-language dailies El Bilad
and El Fajr on April 23. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Ahmed Yessaad, head of MSP's parliamentary bloc, told
us on April 23 that his party was resubmitting its 2004
request to cancel article 144 bis 1 and article 87 bis 10 of
the 2001 Penal Code, which make journalists and imams
eligible for criminal prosecution for their speech.
According to Yessaad, MSP is seeking to remove all articles
of the Penal Code that "undermine journalists' status" and
make them vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Yessaad said
the law would be submitted to the Office of the Speaker for
examination before submission to the government.
Parliamentary procedure gives the government 60 days to
respond to MSP's request.


3. (C) What is new about this second attempt is that MSP has
decided to try to use the media to bring political pressure
to bear on the government in order to force genuine
consideration of this law. Abdelkrim Dahmane, responsible
for external affairs at the MSP, acknowledged this publicly,
and Farouk Taifour, MSP's press attache, confirmed to us on
April 23 that the party was adopting a new strategy to use
the media to break political deadlock, in advance of
International Press Freedom Day on May 1.


4. (C) COMMENT: MSPs opposition to the rigorous 2001 Penal
Code set by former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia is well
known. They view it as a tool used by the government to
restrict and contain Islam to an excessive degree. Adding
the cause of press freedom to their efforts, especially in a
public way, is a welcome amplifier for our efforts to
decriminalize press defamation (refs A and B). Although it
is certainly a positive development that this initiative
comes from one of the three parties of the ruling coalition,
we are skeptical that it will quickly gain political
traction. The MSP will hold a much-anticipated party
congress on April 29, during which an internal power struggle
will likely take precedence over the effort to decriminalize
defamation.
FORD