(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 4 July 2000 RSF report on the state of press freedom in Algeria: Algeria Freedom on probation Five journalists still “missing” With the support of the European Commission July 2000 The Algerian press currently enjoys greater freedom of tone, accompanied by the creation of new titles, and there are […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 4 July 2000 RSF report on the state of press freedom in Algeria:
Algeria
Freedom on probation
Five journalists still “missing”
With the support of the European Commission
July 2000
The Algerian press currently enjoys greater freedom of tone, accompanied by the creation of new titles, and there are over 30 dailies in existence today. The authorities try, however, to curb this freedom by economic and legal means. Certain sympathies in Algerian society are rarely or never found in the country’s main news media.
The terrorism of armed Islamist groups has taken a heavy toll among Algerian journalists. To continue practising their profession they have often required enormous courage. An entire generation has been trained in this struggle to keep independent journalism alive; it deserves more than the scornful remarks of the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Most cases of murdered journalists (57 between 1993 and 1996) and five cases of “missing” journalists remain unpunished. While virtually all those who died were killed by armed Islamist groups, in some cases the identity of the murderers is questionable. Witness accounts in the case of three “missing” journalists implicate the security police.
It seems that the broadcasting media are most closely controlled. The state has a stranglehold over public radio and television which, according to many journalists, have “no room to manoeuvre whatsoever”. In the press the authorities remain omnipresent as regards both printing and the supply of newsprint. Government advertising is distributed according to criteria that often bear no relation to the circulation of the different titles.
Although no journalist has been jailed since the April 1999 election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s press law violates the recommendations of the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion. Heavy prison sentences are provided for in the case of press offences, and journalists are prosecuted far more often than the authorities care to admit. Access to official information remains difficult.
The five-member Reporters Sans Frontières delegation – the president of the organisation, its general secretary, two researchers from the international secretariat, and the president of “Journalist in danger”, a Democratic Republic of Congo association – visited Algeria from 24 to 30 June 2000. The delegation was able to meet its different interlocutors freely. Despite its requests, it was received neither by the president’s advisers nor by the communication, justice and interior ministers, but by senior officials in the former two ministries only. Representatives of RSF held discussions with journalists from both public and privately-owned, French and Arab-language media in Algiers and Oran. This was the first time in five years that Reporters Sans Frontières representatives were able to obtain visas to visit Algeria.
On the eve of the delegation’s arrival in Algiers, the National Journalist’s Union (SNJ) called for a “boycott” of Reporters Sans Frontières. This decision, taken in conditions contested by several members of the union’s national council, was met by protests by over fifty of its members.
1 – Assassinations and “disappearances” too often unpunished
1.1. Investigations into murders of journalists
According to Reporters Sans Frontières, 57 journalists were murdered between 1993 and 1996. About forty other media employees were also killed during those dark years. Since October 1996 no journalist has been killed in Algeria. Representatives of the justice ministry who met the RSF delegation affirmed that in 20 cases the murderers or their accomplices, of journalists or employees of the press, were identified and, in certain instances, sentenced. In all other cases the same officials stated that a preliminary inquiry had been opened. Reporters Sans Frontières was unable to obtain confirmation of this information. In several cases that the authorities described as “elucidated”, the delegation gathered testimonies to the contrary, as in the case of the murder of Tahar Djaout.
At least 15 death sentences have been pronounced in absentia since 1993, for murders of journalists. The lawyers interviewed by Reporters Sans Frontières claim that in some cases the police blamed these murders on people arrested as part of the struggle against Islamist armed groups. They cited, for example, the case of an individual sentenced to three years in jail for participating in the murder of a journalist, whereas the police report – a key element – gives neither the journalist’s name nor the date of the murder. An advocate added that the people sentenced had been tortured.
While there is no doubt that almost all 57 journalists were killed by armed Islamist groups, in some cases, especially of journalists close to the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), numerous questions remain unanswered. Some people think that the journalists concerned may have been killed by services close to the government, in order to “eliminate nuisances, diabolise terrorists and intimidate the press”. The association of families of journalists who were victims of terrorism complains that investigations drag on and on, and it fears that “justice will never be done”.
1.2. Five journalists ” missing “
Five journalists “disappeared” between 1994 and 1997. The Reporters Sans Frontières mission heard new testimonies confirming that these journalists were kidnapped – two of them by armed Islamist groups. In the case of the other three, at this stage, subject to more in-depth investigation, various elements suggest that they were kidnapped by members of the security police.
– Mohamed Hassaïne
Mohamed Hassaïne, local correspondent for the daily Alger Républicain, was kidnapped on 28 February 1994, at about 7.30 a.m., outside his home in Larbatache (Boumerdes wilaya), on his way to work. According to witnesses close to his family, the four kidnappers belonged to armed Islamist groups. Former members of the groups claim that he was murdered the same day.
– Kaddour Bousselham
Kaddour Bousselham, correspondent for the state-owned daily Horizons in Hacine, in the western region of Mascara, was kidnapped on 29 October 1994. He had been living with his family in a tent since the destruction of their home by an earthquake. He was reportedly tortured before having his throat slit by an armed Islamist group under Slimane Lahbib. According to the services of the justice ministry, a preliminary investigation was opened on 27 November 1994. The case was dismissed on 18 February 1995 for lack of evidence.
– Djamil Fahassi
In the afternoon of 6 May 1995, Djamil Fahassi, journalist with Chaîne 3 of the national radio station, was kidnapped by four individuals as he was leaving a restaurant with a friend. The men were dressed in civilian clothes and carried walkie-talkies. They forced the journalist into a beige Peugeot 205. According to several witnesses the car, with five men in it, crossed the police roadblock near El Harrach prison without any problem whatsoever. In late July 1999, a former prisoner told a friend of the family: “In 1997 I was in jail with the journalist Djamil Fahassi from Chaîne 3”.
According to the justice ministry, a preliminary investigation into this case by the Algiers court is under way. The state-run National Human Rights Observatory (ONDH) affirmed – citing national police – that Djamil Fahassi was “neither arrested nor taken in for questioning”. The journalist is married and has a daughter of five.
– Aziz Bouabdallah
On 12 April 1997, at 11.30 p.m., the doorbell rang at the home of Aziz Bouabdallah, a journalist with the Arab-language daily El-Alam Es-Siyassi, in the Bouzareah neighbourhood in Algiers. A voice ordered: “Police, open!”. According to the journalist’s family, four men “well dressed in civilian clothes, like military police” asked: “Are you Aziz Bouabdallah?”. One of them carried a double-barrelled revolver. He forced the journalist into a white car. On 19 April the sister of one of the journalist’s friends who had also been kidnapped and then released two days later, told Aziz Bouabdallah’s mother: “Don’t worry, your son is in Ben Aknoun jail and will soon be released”. Seven months later the friend in question confirmed that he had been detained in that jail with Aziz Bouabdallah.
A few days after the kidnapping, friends of the family visited the journalist’s parents with a friend of theirs, a captain in the security police (the DRS). This person affirmed that he was responsible for the “operation” and explained that Aziz Bouabdallah “had done nothing, he simply wrote a libellous article”, adding: “He had some bad times, but I’m going to see to him, he’ll be treated well”. Two weeks later the police captain returned to ask the family for “clean clothes” for their son. The family never saw the officer again and has had no further news of their son. According to the ONDH, the national police explained that the journalist had been “kidnapped by a non-identified armed group” (GANI) of four men, on 11 April 1997″.
Following multiple steps taken by Aziz Bouabdallah’s parents, the Algiers court dismissed the case on 20 May 2000. His family appealed in the Algiers court of criminal appeal. The foreign ministry has informed the Reporters Sans Frontières delegation that the appeal court quashed the dismissal.
– Salah Kitouni
On 1 July 1996, police went to the home of Salah Kitouni, managing editor of the regional weekly El Nour, suspended in October 1992. The journalist was absent at the time but reported to the police station two days later. He was released on 6 July but had to return three days later. On 9 July, he reported to the police station again. His family has had no news of him since. On 10 August 1996, one of his parents wrote to the state prosecutor. The answer, received on 29 March 1997, explained that on 11 July 1996 the police had handed Salah Kitouni over to the investigation centre of the fifth military district. The family has received no reply to the numerous letters sent to the ONDH, the mediator of the Republic and the president himself.
2 – State pressure
Today, over 30 dailies are on sale on Algerian news stands. The Arab-language daily El Khabar has the largest circulation with close to 400,000 copies. Three other titles – Liberté, The Quotidien d’Oran and Le Matin – have a circulation of over 100,000 copies. These newspapers are sold for 10 dinars (0.15 euros). The state owns six dailies in Arabic and French. There are three national ratio stations and two television channels, all state-owned. Users of the Internet (officially between 200,000 and 300,000) have the choice of five access providers, of which four are private enterprises. A dozen licenses have reportedly been issued to private providers.
2.1. Legal proceedings
According to the justice ministry, since 1996, 141 journalists have been charged in 156 press cases. 24 of these cases were reportedly initiated directly by the prosecutor, 92 following a complaint with independent action for damages, and 40 following a complaint with a direct summons. The vast majority of these complaints were lodged by private individuals and a few by constituent bodies. Journalists are usually charged with “libel”, “insult” or “abuse”. Representatives of the justice ministry informed Reporters Sans Frontières that, although no journalist had been sentenced to jail in the past four years, several journalists had been remanded in custody. They added that since 1996 no journalist had been prosecuted for publication of “security-related information”.
These figures are contested by many senior members of the media. The Oran Arab-language daily Al Rai, for instance, complained about veritable “legal harassment”. Since the newspaper’s creation in 1998 its publishing manager Ahmed Benaoum has been prosecuted 70 times for “libel”. A number of these proceedings were instituted by political officials close to the government or walis (prefects). For example, an article implicating a senator in an affair of corruption cost him a two-month prison sentence. The case has been taken to the supreme court. For another article denouncing “ties between terrorists and drug traffickers”, a wali laid charges against the newspaper for “attacking the honour and credibility of the nation”. Ahmed Benaoum was sentenced to three months in jail but acquitted by the appeal court. Managers of the daily Le Matin say it has 30 prosecutions currently under way. In some cases charges were laid by the directors of government companies or members of the army.
2.2. Several newspapers still suspended
Just after the end of the electoral process in 1992, several newspapers – El Djazaïr El Youm, Essah-Afa, El Nour, Nah-Laa, El Hiwar, etc. – were suspended by the authorities. The state of emergency proclaimed on 10 December 1992 allows the authorities to suspend a title for six months without any decision by the courts. To date, the directors of these titles have been unable to start up their publications again. State-owned printers demand an official document authorising publication. But the communication and interior ministries have allegedly never issued the required certificates, requested numerous times by the newspapers.
While the 1990 press law stipulates that “publication of any periodical is free” and subject only to “prior registration, 30 days before the first issue appears”, anyone who wants to publish a title has to cross a veritable obstacle course lasting for months – sometimes in vain. For example, in November 1994, the publishing manager of Campus, le journal de l’étudiant filed an application for authorisation to publish this student magazine in Oran and sell it nation-wide. He received an answer from the state prosecutor almost two years later, on 18 May 1996, informing him of the justice ministry’s refusal following “a negative report on the publishing manager”. Yet the press law requires only a clear police record, which in this instance the manager had. The journalists that Reporters Sans Frontières met claim that in many other cases the “approval” is not refused – but is never granted.
2.3. Correspondents caught in the crossfire
The majority of the delegation’s interlocutors emphasised the problems encountered by press correspondents outside the main cities. They are regularly “threatened”, “blackmailed with housing” and “harassed by the walis”. Pressure is not exerted only by state officials; it is sometimes also used as a weapon by the “local mafia”. These correspondents also complain of having been or still being threatened by armed Islamist groups. Unlike some of their colleagues in Algiers, for example, they do not have housing with the necessary protection. A correspondent in the Oran district added: “In these conditions one can’t blame us for practising self-censorship”.
2.4. A liberticidal press law
In January 2000 the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion earnestly demanded “that all governments ensure that press offences are not punishable by prison sentences, except for offences such as racist or discriminatory comments or calls for violence”, adding: “For offences such as ‘libellous writings’, ‘abuse’ or ‘insulting’ the head of state, or the publication or broadcasting of ‘false’ or ‘alarmist’ information, prison sentences are both reprehensible and out of all proportion with the damages suffered by the victim”.
No less than 15 articles of Law N° 90-07 of 3 April 1990 relating to information, provide for prison sentences for press offences. Article 86 provides for a five- to ten-year prison sentence for “whoever publishes or freely distributes false or controversial information likely to betray state security or national unity”. Other articles refer to the penal code. Article 88, for example, stipulates that: “Whosoever publishes or spreads any information [Å ] containing a state security secret is liable to sentences provided for in Articles 67 and 69 of the penal code”. The said penal code provides for a five- to ten-year jail sentence and a five year sentence, respectively.
According to officials at the communication ministry with whom Reporters Sans Frontières met, a draft organic bill is currently under study at the ministry. The bill, which has already been on the house of assembly’s agenda twice, should be tabled in parliament in the autumn. Senior officials in the ministry claim that the organic law is to consecrate “freedom of information, in accordance with the constitution”. The law will not provide for prison sentences for press offences except “in cases provided for by the penal code”. A new information regulatory body is also to be established. The interlocutors of Reporters Sans Frontières did not specify what the characteristics or exact role of that body would be. The organic law will allow newspapers to “open their capital to foreign private interests”. According to the officials, “there will be no reference to security-related information”.
The information regulatory body provided for in the organic law is to include representatives of the ethical and deontological council elected last May in highly controversial conditions. This council will be responsible for upholding deontological standards in the profession and issuing press cards. The election of this council has been widely contested.
2.5. Security-related information
On 7 June 1994, an inter-ministerial decree, signed by the interior and communication ministries, recorded the measures relating to “treatment of security-related information”. In particular, this decree instituted a “communication committee responsible for relations with the media as regards information and the writing and publishing of official communiqués on the security situation”. Article 2 of this decree stipulated that communiqués approved by this committee would be “published exclusively by the news agency Algérie Presse Service”. Article 3 added that “in respect of information related to terrorist or subversive acts, only official communiqués can be published or broadcast by the media”. It stipulated that this decree would not be published and would remain confidential. It was intended for “publishers and senior managers of the national press”. While officials of the communication and justice ministries explained to the RSF delegation that this decree had been repealed, they were unable to specify the date on which that measure had been taken. The interior minister refused to meet the delegation.
Reading committees set up in 1994 in the various state printers, responsible for “security-related information” were allegedly dissolved four years later. Yet censorship by state printers continues. On 13 March 2000, an interview with the general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières, which was to appear on pages 4 and 5 of the Nouveau Chroniqueur, was deleted by the printer under the pretext of “technical problems”.
3 – The state’s hold over the media
3.1. The government’s stranglehold over broadcasting
If there is an area that has not experienced the “liberalisation” the government has boasted about, it is unquestionably the broadcasting sector which has two television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several regional stations. As a result many Algerians prefer to watch foreign channels picked up by satellite dish, rather than Algerian public TV.
News on state channels is, as most journalists put it, “a caricature”; TV news devotes over half an hour to the president’s activities.
Representatives of the communication ministry explained to Reporters Sans Frontières that in the framework of the organic law, which should be tabled in parliament in the autumn, a broadcasting regulatory authority will also be created. The “opening of radio and television to the private sector” will be considered but”, these officials specified, “will initially exclude news bulletins”.
3.2. Printers under control
Today five news printers belong to the state: the printer of the government daily El Moudjahid (SIMPRAL), the Entreprise algérienne de presse (ENAP), the Société d’impression d’Alger (SIA), the Société d’impression de l’Est (SIE), and the Société d’impression de l’Ouest (SIO). They have a virtual monopoly over newspaper printing. The importation of newsprint is controlled by the state-owned company l’Algérienne de papier (ALPAP).
In the past few years several private groups have tried to set up their own rotary presses. An entrepreneur, Saad Lounès, and two partners created a private company, Sodipress, in March 1997. Initially it functioned for no more than three weeks before being sealed on 9 April 1997. Officially, Saad Lounès was accused of issuing a bad cheque and not paying the debts that his newspaper (El Ouma – suspended in December 1995) owned to the SIA. For officials at the communication ministry, this decision was a matter of common law. In November 1998, the seals were removed and Sodipress was operational again. The daily Le Matin which, like other titles of the national press, was having problems with the government printers – officially for unpaid debts – was printed for a while by Sodipresse. In September 1999, the printing press was again sealed by the authorities. Saad Lounès considers that his newspaper El Ouma is banned de facto.
Other attempts to create private printers are under way. General Betchine’s news group has started work on infrastructure to accommodate his own rotary press. “Although the African Development Bank had given us its approval” said an executive of the group, “the Crédit populaire algérien (CPA) which should have given that money to us finally refused after the work had begun”. As far as he is concerned it is purely and simply a political affair. Four other titles of the national press – El Watan, El Khabar, Liberté and Le Quotidien d’Oran – are currently trying to set up their own printing works.
Journalists’ opinions vary on the need to maintain public sector printing. While they all denounce the quasi-monopoly of the state, some fear that it might be replaced by a private monopoly that could lead to the disappearance of certain titles unable to meet high printing costs. Others fear that some big publications or broadcasting media with their own printers might be tempted to refuse to print rival titles.
According to the services of the communication ministry, the titles printed by the five state printers owed the state 481 million dinars (7 million euros) on 31 October 1999. These debts have on several occasions been used to silence titles considered to be “disturbing”. In December 1996 the weekly La Nation, managed by Salima Ghezali, had to cease publication because it was unable to pay its debts to the SIA. Although it offered to pay off the debt in installments, no agreement could be reached between the owner of the magazine and the director of this state printer. Salima Ghezali is convinced that this was a “political ban”.
The Arab-language weekly Ech-Chorouk has experienced similar difficulties, although it is again on sale. In February 1997, the SIA increased its prices from 2 to 7 dinars (0.03 to 0.10 euros) per copy. The weekly refused to pay and on 3 March 1997 the public printers were ordered to stop printing Ech-Chorouk. In April the Algiers, Constantine and Oran courts ordered the printers to start printing Ech-Chorouk again, a decision upheld by the appeal court in June 1997 and the supreme court in early 1998. The printers nevertheless waited until February 1999 to do so.
The Arab-language weekly El Borhane had problems with its printer from the outset. On 12 July 1998, barely a month after the first edition, the SIA suspended printing of the title, under the pretext that the “approval” given to the magazine specified that it had to be printed by another state printer, the SIMPRAL. But the latter, affirmed the management of El Borhane, consistently refused to print it. After seven months of legal proceedings, the magazine finally reappeared on 23 February 1999. Two months later El Borhane had to stop again since it was unable to pay cash as the SIA demanded. In early October the title was again on news stands, but this time only until 2 January 2000, when the SIA demanded that it repay its entire debt of 440,000 dinars (6,465 euros). To date, Nadir Lardjoune, the publishing manager, has still not received a reply from the SIA to its proposed reimbursement in installments. El Borhane is no longer on sale.
More recently, the weekly La Semaine had to make use of private printers – Sodipress and then book printing works – when the state printers refused to print it until the debts of the daily Demain l’Algérie were paid. Although the latter title, now no longer in existence, was managed by Ammar Belhimmer like La Semaine, it belonged to another company.
Finally, the management of L’Authentique stated that the 25 June edition of the daily had not been printed by the SIE, officially due to electric failure. L’Authentique notes, however, that other titles were printed on the same day by the same printer.
3.3. State advertising
According to the National Publishing and Advertising Agency (ANEP), in 1999 the advertising market for the press accounted for 1.275 billion dinars (18.7 million euros), of which 65% came from public-sector advertisers. For the first half of 2000 this figure was expected to be around 56%. While ANEP manages less than 30% of the global market (public and private advertisers), the weight of the public sector (state, local authorities, national companies, etc.) remains decisive in numerous titles’ income. A large majority of these titles contest the way in which ANEP and, more generally, the state distribute their advertising. Many claim that government advertising is based on no economic logic whatsoever: publications with low circulation figures have earnings from advertising virtually equivalent to those with far higher circulation figures. Others go even further, explaining that the state authorities, via ANEP, do not hesitate to financially “strangle” titles with the “wrong ideas”. Thus, the daily L’Authentique claims not to have received a single advertisement from ANEP since January. Ech-Chorouk and El Amel affirm that they are virtually “boycotted” even though they signed a convention with ANEP.
4 – Foreign journalists under surveillance
Officially, visas are issued to foreign journalists by the communication ministry only. Questioned by Reporters Sans Frontières on the refusal for years to grant visas to certain journalists, an official from the communication ministry replied that he did not know “on what level that decision was taken”. He went on to specify that the Algerian state has “the right to refuse visas to pseudo-journalists who militate against Algerian national dignity without any respect for deontology”. The same official noted that he couldn’t “see why journalists would wish to come to Algeria when there are no particular events to cover”. He concluded by saying that “Algeria is a sovereign state and can refuse to give visas to whoever is against its national interests”.
Even if 300 foreign journalists – according to the authorities – have been granted visas for Algeria since the beginning of 2000, others are systematically turned away. José Garçon, a journalist with the French daily Libération, and Mouna Al-Banna, a journalist with Radio France Internationale, failed to obtain visas when they wanted to visit Algeria prior to Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s visit to France in June 2000.
Although he had a visa, the Spanish journalist Antonio Banquero, Rabat correspondent for the daily El Periodico, was turned back at the Algerian border on 13 September 1999. He had gone to cover the referendum on civil concord.
For years the Algerian authorities imposed police escorts on reporters, claiming that it was for security reasons. For the past two months the escorts seem to have disappeared.
While journalists who wish to travel to Algeria sometimes have problems simply because of their criticism of the government, Algerian journalists who are correspondents for the foreign press experience similar problems. For example, the correspondent for the Belgian daily La Libre Belgique and the French daily Le Figaro has not been granted accreditation and is therefore denied access to official events. Directly targeted in November 1998 by the then communication minister who accused journalists of being “used against their country”, he filed a complaint for “libel”. In another case, Mohamed Sifaoui, former correspondent for the French weekly Jeune Afrique, was allegedly harassed and received threats from the army. The journalist had tried to investigate certain murders and “disappearances”. Fearing his life was in danger he was forced into exile in late 1999. Lastly, Walid Zeroug, freelance photographer for the French agency IMA Presse, was arrested at his home on 28 March 2000 by six men from the DRS. He was released on 2 April.
5 – Conclusions and recommendations
The truth has still not come to light on murders and “disappearances” of journalists. The families of these journalists have a right to know and the guilty must be punished. Although censorship has changed its face, it still exists under different names: state monopoly on broadcasting, control of printers, legal harassment, blackmailing with advertising, etc. An entire generation of Algerian journalists have started their careers under the threat of violence. They have learned the value of words in a context of bloodshed. They are tired of the authorities’ scornful attitude.
While most journalists interviewed by Reporters Sans Frontières, including those close to the opposition, think they are not directly threatened or pressurised, others qualify that, saying that their freedom remains “extremely fragile”. The words of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling journalists “tayabat el-hammam” (hammam gossipmongers) are worrying. Investigative journalism remains very difficult to practise: access to official sources of information is particularly complicated and some parts of the country remain extremely dangerous.
Many of the journalists met by the Reporters Sans Frontières delegation complained about their working conditions – very low salaries, no job security, often no real employment contract – whereas the owners of many titles have made a lot of money. As a result the media are fragile when faced with government pressure. Publishers of the private press and those in charge of the state-owned media should guarantee working conditions that enable journalists to practise their profession to the full.
Following its mission, Reporters Sans Frontières recommends that the Algerian authorities:
– open effective inquiries into the murders of journalists so that impunity is not the rule;
– open effective inquiries into the “disappearance” of journalists, to end the uncertainty in which their families live;
– put an end to the excessive use of prosecution, especially by certain constituent bodies and local government officials;
– allow titles that were suspended under the state of emergency, still in force, to reappear and to be printed by state-owned printers;
– amend the press law so that press offences are no longer punishable by prison sentences, as recommended by the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression;
– do away with the state monopoly on broadcasting and allow real pluralism in the public media;
– allow the free circulation of foreign journalists so that the granting of visas is not used as a means of censorship.
Reporters Sans Frontières recommends that the international community and, in particular, the European Union:
– finance training courses and practical training for young journalists from the public and private press.
