ALGIERS, 5 July 2004 — The Algerian government held rare talks with dozens of independent newspaper editors yesterday to try to end a long-running feud, only a day after another editor was jailed for slandering an official.
Relations between President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the North African country’s leading national dailies hit new lows this month after the imprisonment of several journalists.
Newspapers accuse the government of wanting to silence the press for its critical reporting, particularly on Bouteflika and the powerful military. The authorities complain some stories go beyond the bounds of acceptable reporting.
“Communications Minister Boudjemma Hichour told us the jailing of journalists was regrettable but urged everyone to let the justice system do its job. We now await the journalists’ appeals to see if his words hold true,” Omar Belhouchet, editor of El Watan newspaper, said after attending the meeting. “It appears the government wants to mend fences.”
Until now the government has refused any dialogue with the media. Diplomats said yesterday’s discussions suggest it may be feeling under pressure from critics abroad as Algeria re-enters the international community after years of isolation.
Algeria is just emerging from a decade of violence that led to the deaths of more than 150,000 people, according to human rights groups.
In a speech yesterday to mark the 42nd anniversary of Algerian independence, Bouteflika said the defeat of extremism was essential if democracy in the country was to continue to develop.
He said Algeria was determined to combat “all forms of terrorism,” which he said had been “defeated but not yet completely eradicated.”
He added that all Algerians should remain resolute because it was “not possible, not even conceivable that each Algerian, each man and each woman in this country does not feel directly and personally concerned by this scourge.”
On Saturday, regional media magnate Ahmed Benaoun and Ahmed Oukili, editor of one of Benaoun’s dailies Er Rai, were sentenced to two months in jail for a story questioning how well the Oran city police chief was doing his job.
Under a new libel law passed in 2001, journalists in Algeria face up to three years in jail if found guilty of defaming public officials, including military ones.
Algeria, which has more than 40 newspapers, risks losing its reputation as having one of the freest print media in the Arab world, diplomats say.
There are no private television or radio networks in Algeria.
“No government can seriously claim to uphold press freedom if it tolerates, and enforces, a press code that provides prison terms for defaming public officials,” Eric Goldstein, a research director at Human Rights Watch, said.
More than 100 defamation cases, most of them brought by various government ministries, are pending against newspapers critical of Bouteflika’s administration.
Lasts month two other newspaper editors were given jail terms, one for illegal transfer of money and the other for defamation, and a journalist and rights activist was jailed for defaming local officials. Officials deny they are meddling with the justice system.
