An appeal court in Saida (440 km southwest of Algiers) has imposed a two-month prison sentence on journalist Hassan Bourras in addition to the fine of 40,000 dinars (460 euros) to which he was originally sentenced, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
The court on October 28 issued the additional sentence after upholding his conviction on charges of libel and “attacking state institutions” in connection with an article published two years ago in the Arabic-language daily Al-Bilad, in which he criticised the municipal administration of El-Bayadh (650 km southwest of the capital).
“We are shocked to learn that Bourras’ sentence has been rendered much more severe by the appeal court, although it was Bourras who filed the appeal,” Paris-based RSF said. “Bourras was the first journalist to suffer under the new criminal code adopted in 2001, receiving a one-year prison sentence.”
It added, “The failure to respect correct judicial procedure, the severity of this new sentence and his recent summons by the intelligence services all illustrate the kind of methods used by the Algerian authorities to harass independent journalists.”
The October 28 ruling was the outcome of the appeal that Bourras filed against the fine he received from a local court on March 24 for two articles he wrote in 2006 about the administration of El-Bayadh, which had elicited several complaints against him by the city’s prefect, the regional health authorities and the health workers union.
Two months before the appeal court’s verdict, Bourras was summoned on September 1 by the Intelligence and Security Department (DRS), questioned about protest movements in the south of the country and warned not to write about them.
Bourras, who left Al-Bilad in 2006, told RSF he was not notified that his appeal was being heard by the court, which issued its ruling without him or his lawyer being present. He plans to appeal against the appeal court’s ruling when it has been formally notified to him.
“I am the victim of this government and its repressive laws for journalists,” he said. “I have taken to court several times since 2001 to defend what I have written. I am used to dealing with the Algerian courts and police, but this recent preventive intervention by the intelligence services, warning me not to cover the unrest in the south, shows that senior government officials have me in their sights.”
In 2003, Bourras was sentenced to two years in prison and was banned for working as a journalist for five years in connection with articles about two corruption cases that he wrote for the Oran-based regional daily El Djazairi.
He was imprisoned from November 6 to December 2, 2003. Then an appeal court reduced his sentence to damages of 100.000 dinars (1,100 euros) and a fine of 10,000 dinars (about 100 euros). While still held, he went on hunger strike in protest against his detention.
