ALGERIA

BACKGROUND

Since 1991 Algerian politics have been dominated by the struggle between the military and Islamist militants. In that year a general election won by an Islamist party was annulled, marking the beginning of a bloody campaign which has seen the slaughter of tens of thousands of people. In October 2001 the government agreed to a series of demands by the minority Berber community, including official recognition of the Berber language, after months of unrest involving Berber youths pressing for greater cultural and political recognition.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected in April 1999 on a promise to restore national harmony and end years of bloodshed. The one-time foreign minister released thousands of Muslim militants from prison and won national backing for a civil concord offering amnesty to armed militants. Hundreds of rebels have taken up the offer but violence has continued. The army under his control continues to draw criticism from human rights campaigners for alleged executions and for failing to prevent massacres.

Algeria's television and radio stations are state-controlled, but there is a lively private press which is often critical of the authorities. Although there is no overt censorship, amendments to the penal code set out prison terms and fines for insulting or defaming the president, MPs, judges and the army. Algerian dailies mark the anniversary of the amendments by suspending publication in a protest known as a "day without newspapers".

Unlike in neighbouring Tunisia, the Internet in Algeria is not controlled by the authorities. Laws give the government power to regulate and even monitor it, but to PEN's knowledge they have not so far been used. Article 14 of a 1998 telecommunications decree says ISPs "must take responsibility" for the content of sites and servers they run or host. They are also required to "take all necessary steps to ensure continuous monitoring" of content and servers accessible to their customers so as to block access to "material that undermines public order and morale."

In May 2001, parliament passed an amendment to the criminal code that caused an outcry among journalists. Article 144 (b) provided for prison terms of between two months and a year and fines of between 750 euros and 3750 euros in the event of "denigration of the president through insults or defamation," in writing, drawings or speech, through radio and TV broadcasts or electronic or computer means. Offenders can be directly prosecuted by the government without a prior complaint being filed. For repeat offenders, the punishments are doubled. These sanctions also apply to such attacks on parliament, the armed forces and any other public body.

In 2002 Algeria hosted three international meetings relating to "counter-terrorism" and "organized criminality." Official statements made at the time of these meetings indicated that Algeria was seeking support for its view that the "counter-terrorism" approach it had followed in the last decade had been vindicated in the wake of the attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001. A similar message was given in Algeria's reports of December 24, 2001 and August 15, 2002 to the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee which presented steps taken "to prevent and combat terrorism". Some of these measures, including legislative amendments from previous years and ratifications of instruments such as the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, present a serious threat to human rights.

Over the past ten years and before, PEN has campaigned on a number of cases of writers and journalists who have been killed or persecuted on account of their work. Although at present no writers or journalists are, to PEN's knowledge, imprisoned in Algeria, we are aware that journalists are regularly intimidated, threatened and charged with offenses in connection with their work.

RECENT NEWS

"This is clearly a political decision," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "There is no doubt that the government is responsible for these payment demands, which are a grotesque way to silence the Algerian press," Ménard said. It was no coincidence that this threat came just when the newspapers had reported a series of scandals implicating leading government figures and their associates, he added.

Ménard recalled that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had posed as a champion of press freedom when he appeared before that European parliament in June, claiming that "no newspaper or journalist has been the target of any persecution whatsoever." At the same time, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia had argued in favour of promoting press freedom.

"It's time to put this fine talk into practice" Ménard said, warning the government that it would be "an enormous mistake" to ban these newspapers now, as the country was heading towards presidential elections in 2004.

In a joint statement issued earlier today, the editors of the six newspapers accused President Bouteflika and Prime Minister Ouyahia of "using commercial subterfuges in order to punish independent newspapers guilty of revealing scandals and in order to silence them for a long time, instead of giving an explanation for the serious scandals affecting senior officials."

The joint statement added : "The procedure is crude : these newspapers are being told that they have to settle all their bills, even though they are not yet due for payment. Everything suggests that the six targeted newspapers will cease to appear from Monday, August 18th for an indefinite period."