(CALP/IFEX) – On 28 June 2005, an Algiers court sentenced Ali Dilem, a cartoonist with the daily “Liberté”, and Farid Alilat, the daily’s former publication director, to six months in prison with no parole and a 250,000 dinar (approx. US$3,500) fine. The paper was fined 1.5 million dinars (approx. US$21,100). Alilat, who is presently out […]
(CALP/IFEX) – On 28 June 2005, an Algiers court sentenced Ali Dilem, a cartoonist with the daily “Liberté”, and Farid Alilat, the daily’s former publication director, to six months in prison with no parole and a 250,000 dinar (approx. US$3,500) fine. The paper was fined 1.5 million dinars (approx. US$21,100). Alilat, who is presently out of the country, was sentenced in absentia.
The legal action against the journalists and “Liberté” followed the paper’ publication of a cartoon in September 2003 that dealt with the 2004 presidential election. Both journalists and the paper were accused of “insulting the head of state”.
CALP is concerned by the surge of criminal defamation cases brought against journalists and newspapers. The organisation reiterates its call for an end to the judicial harassment of journalists and demands that the Algerian authorities respect freedom of expression.
