ALGIERS, 23 September 2003 — Close to a dozen Algerian daily newspapers declared a “day without the press” yesterday, halting publication in protest of what they claim is a harassment campaign by state authorities. Six of the most influential dailies in the North African country spearheaded the protest, following the forced suspension of their publications in late August and early September, officially for non-payment of debts to government-controlled printers.
Four French-language papers - Liberte, Le Matin, L’Expression, Le Soir d’Algirie — and two Arabic-language editions — El-Khabar and Er-Rai — said their forced closure was a “pretext” to muzzle an independent press which has often been critical of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Several journalists and editors from the papers were arrested in the past month, and some were placed under formal investigation for insulting the president or for libel.
Over the past few months the newspapers had published a string of revelations over alleged scandals and corruption involving some of Algeria’s top officials. The rest of the country’s 43 daily newspapers came out yesterday, and some said in editorials that the protest cast unfair suspicion on those who had gone to press as usual.
“The objective of this action is to denounce the authorities’ harassment of the press. It is everyone’s liberty that is at stake and not only those of journalists,” said Farid Allilat, the director of one of the newspapers involved in the protest, Liberte.
