(FIJALGER/IFEX) – The proposed amendments to Penal Code defamation provisions provides for long prison sentences for journalists and heavy fines for both journalists and publications. The text was adopted by the Council of Ministers at the end of February 2001 and presented to the National Popular Assembly’s (Assemblée Populaire Nationale, APN, first house of parliament) […]
(FIJALGER/IFEX) – The proposed amendments to Penal Code defamation provisions
provides for long prison sentences for journalists and heavy fines for both journalists and publications. The text was adopted by the Council of Ministers at the end of February 2001 and presented to the National Popular Assembly’s (Assemblée Populaire Nationale, APN, first house of parliament) committee for adoption.
According to reports in the Algerian press, three new articles relating to the press were added to the original text. Article 144a introduces the offence of “insulting the president of the republic”. The article stipulates that anyone who insults the president using an “offensive, insulting or slanderous expression” in writing, drawings, statements or any other supporting words or pictures is liable to a one to three-year prison term and fines of 100,000 to 1,000,000 Algerian dinars (approx. US$1,400 to 14,000). Penalties are doubled for any subsequent offence.
Another article in the bill (Article 144b) specifies thal legal proceedings are to be launched against “the author”, “the managers of the publication or editorial staff” and “the publication itself”. According to the government’s bill, a publication found guilty of insulting the president faces fines of 500,000 to 5,000,000 dinars (approx. US$7,000 to 70,000).
Article 146 of the Penal Code has been revised. The government’s bill introduces the crime of “insulting a constituent body”. According to the text, excerpts of which were published in the Algerian press, these bodies include parliament, the army, courts and tribunals as well as all “public institutions”, though the institutions in question are not clearly identified in the bill. The anticipated penalties for infractions are the same as those under Article 144a.