Rabah Lamouchi, the national Arabic-language daily Ennahar's correspondent in Tebessa (460 km east of Algiers), has been arrested on the grounds that he was not officially accredited by the newspaper. This is denied by the paper's editor, who told Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) it was just a pretext. Another Ennahar correspondent was held for three days last month.
"This case is disturbing because an Algerian judge is attacking a national daily regarded as pro-government," Paris-based RSF said. "The allegation that its correspondent lacks accreditation is just an excuse for intimidating the staff and silencing reporters who write about the corrupt practices of local officials. We call for his release."
After being arrested at his home June 8 morning by members of the national gendarmerie, Lamouchi was interrogated by the head of the Tebessa criminal investigation department. A judicial detention order was finally issued the same evening.
"We were all surprised by this," Ennahar editor Anis Rahmani told RSF. "It is a dangerous way to proceed, and threatens the healthy climate prevailing in the national press. Whenever our correspondents report allegations of fraud or local criminal practices, the courts intervene and try to silence journalists who are just doing their work. This case is a ploy, a sham."
Jamel Bourdiz, Ennahar's correspondent in Skikda (300 km east of Algiers), was also the target of intimidation by local police and judicial authorities at the end of last month. He was arrested on May 26 and spent three days in custody while the police "investigated" an alleged case of embezzlement.
