Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns ban on al-Jazeera

Reporters without Borders has strongly condemned the decision of the Algerian authorities to "temporarily freeze" the activities of the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera in Algeria and called for an immediate lifting of the ban. "This unfair decision amounts to nothing more nor less than censorship" said the international press freedom organisation, adding, "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 was extremely worrying and appeared to sound a warning to all the foreign media in Algeria particularly in the light of conflict between the authorities and Algeria's privately owned press which has been going on for months. The latest escalation raised fears of a further lurch towards repression on the part of the government following the re-election of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The ministry of culture and communications on 30 June 2004 told Mohamed Daho, correspondent for al-Jazeera in Algiers, that his activities were frozen "until further notice". He was told the official reason was a reorganisation under way of the work of foreign correspondents. Reporters Without Borders said it was surprised that this reorganisation had only affected the Qatar-based TV channel. A number of sources agreed that it was probably in reprisal for the broadcasting last week of a debate on Algeria on the channel's popular programme "El-Itidjah el-Mouakass". Opposition figures spoke in the debate openly criticising Algerian generals and President Bouteflika's national reconciliation policy. The programme also aired the results of a poll organised by the channel that showed 72 % of viewers considered that there had been no improvement in the situation in Algeria. The channel is highly regarded by satellite viewers in Algeria along with other Arabic and French stations. Reporters Without Borders expressed concern in February 2004 at the refusal of the culture and communications ministry to renew press accreditations for several Algerian journalists working for foreign media on the pretext that in future it would be banned to work for several media. Several correspondents for international media are currently still waiting for their accreditation.