Journalists Lie Low in Algeria

Benmohamed Moulouol, an editor at the government-run daily El Moudjahid, threw open a closet in his newspaper’s office to display his personal stash of lifesaving gear--a blanket, sheet, pillow and toothbrush.

For years, he explained, he has slept on his office couch because of fear of assassination if he goes home.

Moulouol and his colleagues have ample reason to be afraid.

Since 1993, at least 59 reporters, editors and broadcasters have been killed in Algeria. Some were blown up, some gunned down, some stabbed and at least two were decapitated--making this by far the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a journalist. (At El Moudjahid alone, portraits of nine “martyrs” hang on the wall of the editorial boardroom.)

But it is not only fear for their physical safety that preoccupies Algerian journalists. They are also worried about their ability to report objectively and dispassionately in a conflict-racked country where neither side wants an unfettered press.

On one hand, government authorities employ a heavy arsenal of legal and financial tools to control and shape the news. On the other, the armed groups that have been fighting since 1992 to create an Islamic state in Algeria view journalists as heretics and government stooges who must be silenced, if not killed.

“In these circumstances, freedom of expression is a daily, personal struggle,” said Omar Belhouchet, editor of El Watan and one of the country’s best-known journalists.

His words, during an interview last week, were prescient.

On Wednesday, police took Belhouchet from his heavily barricaded Algiers office to question him about a recent El Watan article that criticized several army generals. That same day, it was announced that Belhouchet had been sentenced to one year in prison, stemming from remarks he made in a 1995 interview with French television. He has one week to appeal.

It is probably no coincidence that Belhouchet’s sentence came when the government of President Liamine Zeroual is suffering a storm of critical coverage--much of it in El Watan--over alleged vote-rigging in municipal elections last month.

No editor of Belhouchet’s stature has been imprisoned in recent years. If the sentence stands, it will be a chilling signal to other would-be regime critics.

Freelance writer Lola Dridi said she fears that the profession is already badly compromised, with intimidated reporters not writing or broadcasting what they know about human rights abuses and other sensitive topics. Even when the journalists are willing, newspaper directors concerned about finances are reluctant to take risks, she said.

“Most journalists in Algeria are not so brave as they seem to be,” said Dridi, who describes herself as “a little bitter.”

About 10 newspapers have been silenced on financial or legal grounds. Since January, for example, two independents have been refused service by the government-owned printing house, purportedly because of an old, unpaid invoice. Editors also complain that the government controls advertising and directs it only to those papers that play ball with it.

In addition, individual journalists have been jailed for reporting or expressing opinions. In a handful of cases, journalists have “disappeared”--they were seen being arrested but never surfaced in a court. Many papers avoid delicate subjects, and their coverage of political violence and security matters closely follows the dispatches of the official Algerian Press Service.

Although the past four years have been filled with grief for the journalists, in one respect 1997 has been better. Targeted violence against journalists seems to have waned.

The serial killing of journalists in Algeria--presumed to be the work of Islamic militants--started in May 1993, when the admired writer Tahar Djaout, editor of Ruptures cultural magazine, was fatally wounded outside his home. Before the end of 1993, nine journalists had been slain, according to figures verified by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. In 1994, there were 19 more; in 1995, 24; and in 1996, 7. But so far in 1997, not a single journalist has been killed. The reasons for the dramatic drop-off remain murky.

“I never knew why it happened, so I can’t say why it has stopped,” said Djamel Fouzi of Al Khabar, whose editor, Omar Ouartilan, was gunned down on his way to work two years ago.

Daniszewski was recently on assignment in Algiers.

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The Death Toll

In the past 10 years, 474 journalists worldwide have been killed in the line of duty. Here are the most dangerous countries:

Killed from 1987 to 1996

Algeria: 60

Colombia: 41

Philippines: 30

Russia: 29

Tajikistan: 29

Croatia: 26

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 21

Turkey: 20

Peru: 19

India: 17

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists