H. E. Liamine Zeroual
President
Presidential Palace
El Mouradia
Algiers
Algeria

Vienna, 12 December 1995

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors and media executives from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in 85 countries, is most concerned about the recent suspension of the independent newspaper Liberté.

IPI is informed that on Sunday, 10 December 1995, Algerian authorities ordered the French-language daily Liberté to close for 15 days, and arrested the newspaper’s editor Hacene Ouandjli, and its director , Outoudert Abrous, for allegedly carrying out “repeated tendentious information.” We understand that Mr. Ouandjli has been released but that Mr. Abrous is still being detained pending further hearing and a possible trial.

On 2 December, Liberté journalist Hamhid Mahioust and his driver were kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered, presumably by Islamic fundamentalists. He was the twenty-third journalist assassinated in Algeria this year. Fifty-two journalists have been killed since June 1993. While religious extremists may have been responsible for the majority of these assassinations, IPI is concerned that authorities are not doing their utmost to protect journalists and are even impeding them in their work by frequently arresting members of the independent press and suspending their papers for allegedly imperilling “the higher interests of the country.”

We therefore strongly urge that Mr. Abrous is released immediately and unconditionally and that the authorities end the suspension of Liberté. We further urge Your Excellency to ensure that Algeria’s independent journalists, who are constantly under the threat of assassination, are allowed to publish without further harassment.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director