The premises of Radio M, an Algerian media known to be the last free media space in the country, were sealed off by the Algerian police on Saturday 24 December. The day before, its founder, Ihsane El-Kadi, was arrested without official reasons. An episode that comes to close a dark year for the press in Algeria.
I have been doing this job for more than 20 years, we have never received so many blows as this year. Ali Boukhlef is optimistic by nature. At least he tries to stay that way. A former journalist with El Watan and Liberté, two French-speaking Algerian dailies, now a freelance journalist, he witnessed this year the economic asphyxiation of the first and the closure of the second.
Threatened with closure after 31 years of existence, the French-speaking Algerian daily El Watan is crossed by an unprecedented strike movement with employees who have not been paid for almost a year. All the daily’s bank accounts are blocked because of a dispute between the tax authorities and the bank, say the newspaper’s shareholders.
Last April, the daily Liberté stopped publishing after its main shareholder, Issad Rebrab, the richest man in the country, decided to liquidate the media. The announcement was received with great emotion in the country.
A few days ago, Radio M and Maghreb Emergent (an online economic information site) were targeted by the Algerian authorities. On the night of Friday to Saturday, December 24, the director of the two media, Ihsane El-Kadi, was arrested at his home in Zemmouri (60 km from Algiers) around half past midnight. His daughter, Tin Hinane, relayed the information on social networks. “ Six men in two vehicles came at 00.30 to ask him to follow them immediately to the Antar barracks. she tweeted.
The next day, agents from the Algerian General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) went to the premises of the two media, accompanied by Ihsane El-Kadi in handcuffs. “ These agents invited the journalists and employees present to vacate the premises before carrying out the search of the premises. In addition to computer equipment, these agents seized computers, stamps, and documents before leaving the premises, taking with them Director Ihsane El-Kadi. We do not yet know the reasons for this arrest and the search carried out by the security services, ” reports the editorial staff of Radio M in a press release published on their website.
Terrorism
The news caused a great reaction in Algeria, even beyond the journalistic sphere. ” Radio M was one of the few independent radio stations that exist in Algeria,” explains Ali Boukhlef. It was a radio that invites everyone, talks about what is not talked about elsewhere, invites opponents, and criticizes power. It was the last space where we could debate. »
These articles of the Penal Code are so vague that any magistrate, depending on political will, can interpret them in different ways and put someone in prison. Aïssa Rahmoune, lawyer and vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights
The context of the arrest of Ihsane El-Kadi also leads to all assumptions and especially that of arbitrary arrest. “ We wonder if this decision comes from the courts or the political police, ” asks Aïssa Rahmoune, lawyer and vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights. “ The fact of arresting and driving Ihsane at 12:30 a.m., outside the hours allowed for the security services to carry out their duties, leads us to ask ourselves this question. In addition, a search warrant and sealing must be subject to a court order. However, for the moment, the reasons for this intervention remain unknown. »
Is it Ihsane El-Kadi’s last tweet in which he mentions the recovery of 20 billion by the Public Treasury from the pocket of oligarchs which led to his arrest? Is it the ” broadcast of two programs and the publication of an article relating to the second term (of President Abdelmajid Tebboune in 2024) and the organization of Hirak ” wonder the journalists of Radio M?
For several years, Ihsane El Kadi had already been in the crosshairs of the authorities for his journalistic publications. Last June, he was sentenced for an article on the Islamist movement Rachad and the pro-democracy protests of Hirak. “Ishant is undergoing real judicial harassment,” notes Aïssa Rahmoune. He is accused in particular of acts of terrorism, for his papers, his reports, and his investigations. »
Last year, Amnesty International was already concerned about the recurrence of this ground of accusation by the authorities. In June 2021, an amendment to article 87 bis of the Penal Code now defined as a crime of terrorism “ any act or sabotage aimed at state security, national unity, and the stability and normal functioning of institutions. According to the human rights association, the interpretation of this article was then mainly aimed at initiating proceedings and criminalizing “ any critical voice” within the country.
” There is not only article 87 bis, but there is also article 97 which prohibits unauthorized demonstrations in public places as soon as they are considered ‘likely to disturb public order’ or even article 98 and 100 which provide for up to a year in prison for participation in such gatherings, explains Aïssa Rahmoune. These articles are so vague that any magistrate, depending on political will, can interpret them in different ways and put someone in prison. »
In jail for a text message
Last November, it was an article on the export of Algerian dates that earned journalist Belkacem Houma, of the Arabic-language daily Echorouk, to be sentenced to one year in prison, including two months in prison. The journalist mentioned the ” immediate cessation of exports”, particularly in France, of 3,000 tonnes of dates deemed ” unfit for consumption ” due to the use of a certain pesticide.
This is the first in 20 years that two journalists have been sentenced for having written articles. Ali Boukhlef, freelance journalist, a former journalist at El Watan and Liberté
According to his lawyer, Belkacem Houam had been prosecuted under the law on ” unlawful speculation ” and charged with ” disseminating false information that undermines public order ” and ” disseminating false or slanderous information knowingly propagated in the public in order to cause a disruption of the market and a sudden and unjustified rise in prices”.
Journalist Mohamed Mouloudj was prosecuted and convicted for sending an SMS to the leader of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), in which he asked him for an interview for an article. “ Absurdly transformed into ‘proof’ of membership in a terrorist organization, this SMS was invoked to justify the prosecution and his detention on remand for 13 months. reports Reporters Without Borders.
Incarcerated in Koléa prison on the charge of belonging to a terrorist organization, Mohamed Mouloudj was released on October 18, 2022, while having been sentenced to two years in prison, including one year in prison by the criminal court. from Dar El Beida to Algiers.
This is the first time in 20 years that two journalists have been sentenced for writing articles,” laments Ali Boukhlef. The Constitution and its article 54 stipulate, however, that the offense of obstructing or imprisoning journalists in the exercise of their functions is prohibited. The authorities circumvent and appeal to certain articles of the Penal Code. “
Ali Boukhlef began his career as a journalist in the 2000s. “ An enchanted parenthesis, he recalls. It was possible to criticize the president, to write about the army, to say that an oligarch embezzled money, to publish investigations… to do one’s job. Now you just have to go around the television channels to realize that it has become impossible. It’s as if we had gone back 40 years, from the time of the single party when only the voice of the authorities was allowed. »
