(CALP/IFEX) – The state prosecutor for the Sidi M’hamed Court in Algiers is seeking a one year prison sentence with no parole for Farid Alilat, former director of the daily “Liberté”, Ali Dilem and Mustapha Hammouche, a cartoonist and columnist, respectively, with the same paper. The three journalists have been charged with criminal defamation. The […]
(CALP/IFEX) – The state prosecutor for the Sidi M’hamed Court in Algiers is seeking a one year prison sentence with no parole for Farid Alilat, former director of the daily “Liberté”, Ali Dilem and Mustapha Hammouche, a cartoonist and columnist, respectively, with the same paper. The three journalists have been charged with criminal defamation.
The prosecutor annouced that he was seeking jail sentences for the three journalists on 10 May 2005. This followed a hearing at which they were charged with “insulting” President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The judgment is expected on 24 May.
The presiding judge accused Dilem of drawing eight cartoons, all published in 2003, that were deemed “insulting” to President Bouteflika. Neither the president nor the Office of the President filed a complaint against the cartoonist, however. The Algiers court’s Prosecutor’s Office launched the legal action independently.
Hammouche is also accused of having “insulted” the president in a March 2003 column. Alilat is accused in both cases as he was director of “Liberté” at the time of the publication of the offending cartoons and column.
The CALP expresses the hope that the charges against the three journalists will be dismissed. The organisation reiterates its request for an end to the constant judicial harassment of journalists and media outlets, as well as the repeal of the amendments to penal code provisions on defamation, which have led to a severe increase in prison sentences and fines since June 2001.
