Mohamed Benchicou, journalist and editor of former Algerian daily Le Matin, was freed Wednesday morning after serving two years in Algeria’s El Harrach prison. But the release does not signify an improved press freedom situation in Algeria, Human Rights Watch said.
Sad news from Algeria: one of the most courageous newspaper is obliged to disappear. Le Matin, the daily newspaper in French, will no longer appear. According to Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French) shareholders decided to dissolve SARL Le Matin and put it into liquidation. The decision was made at the general assembly on August 10 in the absence of manager and editor Mohamed Benchicou. Benchicou is still in jail for a violation concerning control of capital exchanges within the paper and for publishing a pamphlet attacking the president (see former posting).
The move came after one year of non-appearance and is probably due to the paper's huge debts. "The debts are huge. There are close to 8bn centimes (1.1m US dollars) in debts for printing in the central part of the country and close to 6bn (844,600 US dollars) in tax debts due to the bankruptcy to which Le Matin was subjected. In all that remain the debts due to the printing companies of the east and west as well as those that Le Matin owes to Algerie Presse Service (APS), the amount of which is not yet known," reports Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French). A little sign of hope is, however, that some of Le Matin's seven associates have decided to found a new newspaper.
Source: Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French)
Sad news from Algeria: one of the most courageous newspaper is obliged to disappear. Le Matin, the daily newspaper in French, will no longer appear. According to Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French) shareholders decided to dissolve SARL Le Matin and put it into liquidation. The decision was made at the general assembly on August 10 in the absence of manager and editor Mohamed Benchicou. Benchicou is still in jail for a violation concerning control of capital exchanges within the paper and for publishing a pamphlet attacking the president (see former posting).
The move came after one year of non-appearance and is probably due to the paper's huge debts. "The debts are huge. There are close to 8bn centimes (1.1m US dollars) in debts for printing in the central part of the country and close to 6bn (844,600 US dollars) in tax debts due to the bankruptcy to which Le Matin was subjected. In all that remain the debts due to the printing companies of the east and west as well as those that Le Matin owes to Algerie Presse Service (APS), the amount of which is not yet known," reports Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French). A little sign of hope is, however, that some of Le Matin's seven associates have decided to found a new newspaper.
Source: Le Quotidien d'Oran (in French)
According to Agence France Presse, a tribunal in Algeria rejected a request for the early release of the editor of the daily Le Matin, Mohamed Benchicou. Benchicou was sentenced in July 2004 to two years in prison after the minister of finances complained of a violation concerning control of capital exchanges within the paper. Furthermore, Benchicou was also condemned this week to five prison months in addition to his impending sentence for publishing a pamphlet in February 2004 attacking the president (see former posting). An edition of Le Matin has not been printed since July 2004.
Source: Agence France Presse
Le Monde relates that Algerian editor Mohamed Benchicou will remain imprisoned. The editor of Le Matin has been imprisoned in June 2004, his newspaper has folded in July 2004. Benchicou was charged with defamation, as a consequence of the publication of an article in Le Matin, which covered testimonies of young Algerians who had been tortured by the special forces of the police, with links to the Ministry of Defense. The editor also published a pamphlet entitled "Boutefilka- an Algerian fraud" (Bouteflika, une imposture algérienne), which attacks the Algerian President. He remains imprisoned for defamation.
Source: Le Monde
According to the The Nation / Editor's cut, "Intellectuals worldwide (from the International Ethical College, see list of members below) are sending an open letter to both US Presidential candidates. It is being published today in the United States in The Nation, together with an editorial by the magazine's Editor-in-chief, Katrina van den Heuvel. During the next few days, the letter will also be published in Liberation (France), La Repubblica (Italy), as well as in Central and East European papers." The Collegium was formed in the period leading up to the Sept. 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
According to the The Nation / Editor's cut, "Intellectuals worldwide (from the International Ethical College, see list of members below) are sending an open letter to both US Presidential candidates. It is being published today in the United States in The Nation, together with an editorial by the magazine's Editor-in-chief, Katrina van den Heuvel. During the next few days, the letter will also be published in Liberation (France), La Repubblica (Italy), as well as in Central and East European papers." The Collegium was formed in the period leading up to the Sept. 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Mohamed Benchicou, managing editor of the French-language daily Le Matin is not only a famous journalist in his country. He just published - in French - "Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian imposture" an essay where the current Algerian president is pictured as "as close as possible from the Algerian mafia". The presidential election is scheduled for April 8, 2004.
