World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAIn the first half of 2010 at least two journalists received prison terms for defamationbut remained free pending appeal. On May 13 a court in the city ofMostaganem sentenced Belkacem Belhamideche, director of the French-languageReflexion and one of the daily’s reporters, to six months in prison for coverage ofa letter that a businessman wrote accusing a town mayor of soliciting a bribefrom him. A court in the town of Ain Boucif, in the governorate of Medea, sentencedSaleh Souadi of el-Khabar, Algeria’s leading independent Arabic-languagedaily, to six months in jail for defaming a local hospital director, even though hisarticles appeared before the director assumed his post and did not name him.A 2000 decree banning demonstrations in Algiers remained in effect in 2010.Despite the ban, SOS Disparu(e)s– an organization comprised of relatives of personsforcibly disappeared–has held small vigils in front of the Algiers headquartersof the state human rights commission for most Wednesdays since 1998, inspite of occasional police harassment. In August police dispersed the gatheringand briefly arrested the protesters, who were demanding the state provide informationregarding the fate of persons whom state security forces abducted in the1990s and were never seen again.Authorities require organizations to obtain authorization from the local governorbefore holding indoor public meetings, and frequently ban meetings organized byhuman rights organizations or rights organizations working on behalf of Algeria’sKabyle population. Authorities refused to allow the Algerian League for theDefense of Human Rights (LADDH) to hold its national congress on March 25-26 ata public venue in an Algiers suburb. The governorate of Algiers announced therefusal on the eve of the congress, even though the LADDH had formally requestedpermission a month earlier. The LADDH moved its congress to the Maison dessyndicats in Bachdjarrah, a privately owned venue; two months later, the authoritiesclosed that hall, one of the few in the capital where controversial civil societyorganizations had been able to meet.On July 23, police in the city of Tizi-Ouzou broke up a human rights seminarorganized by the World Amazigh Congress in collaboration with two local Amazigh(Berber) organizations. Police entered the meeting hall, confiscated materials,questioned attendees, and expelled two French participants from the country.Authorities did not explain their action.507