IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - ALGERIA

1 July 2004

Government suspends Al-Jazeera's activities

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has strongly condemned the Algerian authorities' decision
to "temporarily freeze" the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera's activities
in Algeria and called for an immediate lifting of the ban.

"This unfair decision amounts to nothing more than censorship," said RSF.
"This is the first time for more than ten years that a foreign television
channel in Algeria has been banned from covering news in this way."

"This latest attack on press freedom is extremely worrying and appears to
sound a warning to all foreign media in Algeria, particularly in light of
the conflict between the authorities and Algeria's privately-owned press,
which has been going on for months," said RSF. "This latest escalation
raises fears of a further drift towards repression by the government
following the re-election of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika."

On 30 June 2004, the Culture and Communications Ministry told Mohamed Daho,
Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Algiers, that his activities were frozen
"until further notice". The official reason given was that a reorganisation
of the work of foreign correspondents was in progress. RSF expressed
surprise that this reorganisation only affected the Qatari-based television
channel.

A number of sources agreed that the measure was probably taken in reprisal
for a broadcast the previous week of a debate on the political situation in
Algeria on the channel's popular programme "El-Itidjah el-Mouakass".
Opposition figures spoke during the debate, openly criticising Algerian
generals and President Bouteflika's national reconciliation policy. The
programme also aired the results of a poll conducted by the channel, in
which 72 % of viewers said there had been no improvement in the situation in
Algeria.

Al-Jazeera is highly regarded by satellite viewers in Algeria along with
other Arabic and French stations.

In February, RSF expressed concern over the Culture and Communications
Ministry's refusal to renew press accreditations for several Algerian
journalists working for foreign media outlets on the pretext that in the
future working for several media outlets would be prohibited (see IFEX alert
of 26 February 2004). Several correspondents for international media outlets
are still awaiting their accreditation.

For further information, contact Agnès Devictor at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.rsf.org

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
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