Algerian newspaper editor Nedjar El-Hadj Daoud has been arrested after a local court in Ghardaïa (467 km south of Algiers) confirmed a six-month prison sentence for libel that was originally imposed in 2005, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He edits Al-Waha, southern Algeria’s only regional newspaper.
The six-month jail sentence was originally passed by a Ghardaïa court on November 14, 2005 as a result of a libel suit brought against Nedjar by a local government official over an article he had written for the newspaper. After another local court confirmed the sentence a few months later, Nedjar appealed to the supreme court.
The supreme court finally issued a ruling on July 3, 2008 refusing to consider his appeal and returning it to a court in Ghardaïa. It was this court which Monday upheld the sentence and ordered Nedjar’s arrest. Nedjar is a target of constant judicial harassment and there are currently more than 20 lawsuits pending before the courts in Ghardaïa. Launched in 1990, Al-Waha was forced to suspend publication in 2006 as a result of all the harassment.
“We condemn this six-month jail sentence for defamation,” RSF said. “Nedjar has been the victim of judicial harassment for years for covering corruption and influence-trafficking. We again remind the Algerian authorities of the importance of amending the criminal code in order to decriminalize press offences.”
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over attempts by Algerian courts to muzzle journalists following a court decision to fine Abdelouahab Souag, a journalist for the daily El Watan, 50000 DA (Eur 500) for publishing articles on a Muslim cleric.
"We condemn this practice of gagging the press under the cloak of justice," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "Journalists have the right to inform the public without fear or favour from those in authority."
According to press reports, Souag was fined 20000 DA (Eur 200) by a court in Mascara which also ordered him to pay 30000 DA (Eur 300) compensation to an Imam at Aïn Kahla Mosque who had brought a defamation case against him over two articles published in El Watan.
The first article, which appeared in 2006, concerned the alleged ban by the Imam of a religious ceremony in the town Mamounia, following a fatwa describing the ceremony as illegal and heretical in Islam. The 2008 article accused the cleric of attacking journalists whom he had allegedly accused of lacking patriotism.
In 2008, the IFJ criticised the three month jail sentence handed to El Watan's director, Omar Belhouchet and reporter Salima Tlemçani, for exposing the activities of alleged healers who worked in Algiers without medical qualifications.
