(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 August 2004, the Djelfa Appeals Court sentenced Hafnaoui Ghoul, a correspondent for the daily “El Youm”, to three months in prison with no parole, a fine of 50,000 dinars (approx. US$675; 550 euros) and 1 million dinars (approx. US$13,500; 11,000 euros) in damages. The verdict increases the punishment handed down in […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 August 2004, the Djelfa Appeals Court sentenced Hafnaoui Ghoul, a correspondent for the daily “El Youm”, to three months in prison with no parole, a fine of 50,000 dinars (approx. US$675; 550 euros) and 1 million dinars (approx. US$13,500; 11,000 euros) in damages. The verdict increases the punishment handed down in an earlier court ruling. Djelfa is located 270 km south of the capital, Algiers.
On 23 June, a Djelfa court had sentenced Ghoul to two months in prison with no parole and ordered him to pay a 50,000 dinar fine and 1 million dinars in damages. The journalist and human rights activist was served with 14 separate defamation charges following the 23 May publication of an article in the Arabic-language daily “El Djazair News”. In his article, Ghoul had denounced mismanagement and rampant corruption by provincial authorities.
In an 11 July Appeals Court hearing of another case, Ghoul also saw his sentence increased. His original 9 June sentence of two months in prison and a fine of 300,000 dinars (approx. US$4,000; 3,300 euros) for “insult and defamation” was increased to three months in prison.
Djelfa’s governor and other local officials in the province felt they were defamed in an interview Ghoul gave to the French-language daily “Le Soir d’Algerie”, published in the paper’s 17 May edition. In the article, the journalist accused local officials of corruption and misuse of public funds, and criticised poor health services in the region.
In another case against Ghoul, on 2 August, he was found guilty of sending a letter to his daughter from prison without following proper procedures. The summary trial took place in the absence of the journalist’s lawyers. Ghoul has been jailed in the Djelfa prison since 24 May.
