Benchicou received the two-year sentence in June 2004 after the Algerian minister of finance accused the editor of an August 2003 violation involving movement of capital.

Benchicou also published a pamphlet in February 2004 labeling the Algerian president a “fraud.” Although press organizations — including Reporters Without Borders and the Algerian Press Freedom Collective — lobbied on Benchicou’s behalf and accused the government of political manipulation, Algerian minister of justice Tayeb Belaïz maintained the condemnation had “nothing to do with journalists’ rights.”

It has everything to do with journalists' rights, argued Human Rights Watch. "Critics of Algeria's government continue to risk reprisal in the form of a barrage of defamation suits and, on occasion, dubious criminal charges. Such prosecutions and other pressures have significantly curbed press freedom in Algeria compared to seven years ago, when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was first elected."

Le Matin, a French-language paper known for using a “virulent” tone in articles on the Algerian government, was forced to close last summer due to an escalating debt crisis.

Source: AFP (in French)