Caricaturist Djamel Noun threatened by staff of state-owned TV station

 Reporters Without Borders today voiced its concern about the recurrence of cases in which individuals or groups react to press criticism by threatening journalists with impunity, this time caricaturist Djamel Noun of the Arab-language daily El Youm, who went into hiding for three days after being threatened by employees of the state-owned ENTV television station on 7 August over a cartoon lampooning its method of recruiting women (see Drawing). "This is the second time in a month that citizens decide to take justice into their own hands by threatening a journalist", Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "This serious incident furthers the collapse in the rule of law and shows that the notion of press freedom is without meaning in Algeria", Ménard said. "The organisation is concerned at the repeated use by citizens of intimidation towards journalists and calls on the Algerian authorities to quickly put an end to this climate of impunity", he added. When Noun resurfaced on 10 August after three days in hiding, he said he had been forced to change his place of residence because of the threats by the ENTV employees. "Everyone heard them say they knew where I lived and that they had decided to 'finish' with me", Noun said, referring to their protest outside the newspaper on 7 August. He also claimed that, at the behest of television employees union president Djamel Mâafa, the TV station had begun a smear campaign against him, calling him a "terrorist"and likening him to GIA chief Antar Zouabri. The 7 August protest began at about 4 pm, when several dozen ENTV employees gathered outside El Youm's offices at the Tahar-Djaout press centre in Algiers. The agitated protesters tried to force their way into the newspaper's offices and, after spurning an invitation to send in a three-member delegation, they began to insult its journalists and threaten Noun. They told journalists present that they would "ransack everything" if they managed to get inside, and that they would prosecute the newspaper's editors. Previously, the newspaper was ordered to pay 210,000 Dinars (2,789 Euros) in damages on 30 July 2002 as a result of an ENTV libel lawsuit over an article alleging improprieties in the TV station's financial management.