(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 9 June 1998, 28 July, 25 April and 18 April 1997** CPJ Calls on Algeria to Locate Two ‘Disappeared’ Journalists Appeal Marks Fourth Anniversary of Djamel Eddine Fahassi’s Abduction New York, N.Y., May 6, 1999 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 9 June 1998, 28 July, 25 April and 18 April 1997**
CPJ Calls on Algeria to Locate Two ‘Disappeared’ Journalists
Appeal Marks Fourth Anniversary of Djamel Eddine Fahassi’s Abduction
New York, N.Y., May 6, 1999 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
today urged the Algerian government to locate and bring to safety
“disappeared” Algerian journalists Djamel Eddine Fahassi and Aziz
Bouabdallah, who were abducted by men believed to be security agents in 1995
and 1997, respectively.
In an appeal sent to newly elected President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the New
York-based independent press freedom organization called on him “to devote
the full resources of your office to locating both men and guaranteeing
their safety while ensuring that those responsible for their abductions are
brought swiftly to justice.” CPJ asked President Bouteflika to immediately
launch an independent and impartial investigation into their
“disappearances.”
The committee’s appeal coincides with the fourth anniversary of the
abduction of Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger
Chaine III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, who was seized
on May 6, 1995, near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of Algiers by four
men, who pushed him into a waiting car. Prior to his abduction, Fahassi had
been arrested by Algerian authorities on at least two occasions in response
to his published criticisms of the government.
The other “disappeared” journalist, Bouabdallah, a reporter for the
Arabic-language daily Al-Alam al-Siyassi, was abducted from his home in the
Chevalier section of Algiers on April 12, 1997, by three armed men who
forced him into a waiting car. A news article a few days later reported that
he was in police custody. CPJ learned in 1997 that Bouabdallah was being
held in a detention facility and had been tortured.
Neither Fahassi nor Bouabdallah has been seen since their abduction, and
Algerian authorities have denied any knowledge of their arrest.
The human rights organization Amnesty International states that some 3,000
people have “disappeared” in Algeria “after abduction by security forces and
state armed militias since 1993.”
“Djamel Fahassi and Aziz Bouabdallah must not be forgotten,” said CPJ’s
executive director, Ann K. Cooper. “We call on President Bouteflika to
demonstrate his commitment to press freedom and find out what has happened
to these journalists so that they can be returned to their families.”
Last October, a CPJ delegation to Algiers – led by CPJ board member Peter
Arnett – urged then-Communications Minister Habib Chawki Hamraoui to
initiate immediate efforts to locate the two “disappeared” journalists.” To
CPJ’s knowledge, the authorities have yet to take any action toward solving
either case.
A copy of the letter is attached.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world. For
more information on Djamel Eddine Fahassi and Aziz Bouabdallah and press
freedom in Algeria, visit CPJ’s Website at .
BY FACSIMILE (+202-667-2174)
May 6, 1999
His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika
President of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria
c/o His Excellency Ambassador Lamamra Remtane
Embassy of Algeria
2118 Kalorama Rd., N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization
of journalists devoted to upholding press freedom worldwide, writes to you
about Djamel Eddine Fahassi and Aziz Bouabdallah, two Algerian journalists
who were abducted by men believed to be state security agents on May 6,
1995, and April 12, 1997, respectively. For several years, our organization
has expressed its deep concern to the Algerian government about their
continued “disappearance” and urged that immediate action be taken to
ascertain their whereabouts. Most recently, during an October 27, 1998,
meeting with former Communications and Culture Minister Habib Chawki
Hamraoui in Algiers, representatives from CPJ urgently called on the
Algerian government to undertake meaningful efforts to locate both
journalists. To our knowledge, authorities have yet to take any action
toward solving these cases.
Four years ago today Djamel Eddine Fahassi, at the time a 41-year-old
reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaine III and a contributor
to several Algerian newspapers, was abducted by four well-dressed men
carrying walkie-talkies near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of Algiers.
According to eyewitnesses who later spoke with his wife, the men called out
Fahassi’s name and then pushed him into a waiting car. He has not been seen
since and Algerian authorities have denied any knowledge of his arrest.
Prior to his “disappearance,” Fahassi had been targeted by Algerian
authorities on at least two occasions in response to his published
criticisms of the government. In late 1991 he was arrested following the
publication of an article in Al-Forqane, a weekly organ of the now-outlawed
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), criticizing a raid conducted by security
forces on an Algiers neighborhood. He was convicted on January 1, 1992, by
the Blida military court of disseminating false information, attacking a
state institution, and disseminating information that could harm national
unity. He received a one-year suspended sentence and was released, having
served five months in custody. On February 17, 1992, he was arrested a
second time for allegedly attacking state institutions and spreading false
information, and he was transferred to the Ain Salah Detention Center in
southern Algeria, where hundreds of Islamist suspects were interned in the
months following the cancellation of elections in January 1992. He was later
released on March 29.
There is strong evidence to suggest official state involvement in the
“disappearance” of Fahassi and that of another journalist, Aziz Bouabdallah,
a 22-year-old reporter for the daily Al-Alam al-Siyassi who was abducted
from his home in the Chevalier section of Algiers by three armed men on the
evening of April 12, 1997. According to Bouabdallah’s family, the men
stormed into their home, and after identifying Bouabdallah, grabbed him, put
his hands behind his back and pushed him out the door into a waiting car. An
article published in the daily El-Watan a few days after his abduction
reported that Bouabdallah was in police custody and was expected to be
released imminently. In July 1997, CPJ received credible information that
Bouabdallah was being held in the Chateauneuf detention facility, where he
had been subjected to torture. Currently, Bouabdallah’s whereabouts remain
unknown and, as in the case of Djamel Eddine Fahassi, authorities have
denied any knowledge of his abduction.
The families of Djamel Eddine Fahassi and Aziz Bouabdallah have looked
tirelessly for clues to the fate of the two journalists, contacting the
police, the National Guard, and the gendarmerie. In each case, they have
been told that there is no information about either man. According to family
members, Kemal Rezzag-Bara, president of the official National Human Rights
Monitoring Body (Observatoire national des droits de l’homme, or ONDH),
suggested to them that both men were probably abducted by “terrorists.”
Despite such speculation, CPJ is unaware of any evidence to support this
claim, nor are we aware of any official efforts to credibly investigate the
journalists’ “disappearances” or to determine their condition and location.
The Committee to Protect Journalists writes today, on the four-year
anniversary of Djamel Eddine Fahassi’s abduction, to strongly urge Your
Excellency to immediately initiate an independent and impartial investigatio
n into the “disappearances” of Fahassi and Aziz Bouabdallah, and to make the
details of this investigation public. We also urge Your Excellency to devote
the full resources of your office to locating both men and guaranteeing
their safety while ensuring that those responsible for their abductions are
brought swiftly to justice.
Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. We look forward
to a reply at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
/signed original/
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
cc:
His Excellency Smail Hamdani, Prime Minister
His Excellency Abdelmalek Sellal, Interior Minister
His Excellency Ambassador Lamamra Remtane
The Honorable Cameron Hume
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
ARTICLE 19
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Association of Broadcasting
International Federation of Journalists
International Federation of Newspaper Publishers
International Journalism Institute
International PEN
International Press Institute
National Association of Black Journalists
National Press Club
Newspaper Association of America
The Newspaper Guild
North American National Broadcasters Association
Reporters sans Frontières
Overseas Press Club
The Society of Professional Journalists
World Press Freedom Committee
