Dig the latest developments in this on-going saga:
...The two "El Watan" journalists sentenced to two months in prison were editor Omar Belhouchet and reporter Chawki Amari, who were also fined 1 million dinars (approx.10,635 euros). They immediately appealed against the verdict.
The case was a retrial of one held before a court in Jijel, 360 km east of Algiers, in December 2006, when they received three-month sentences for libelling and insulting the city's prefect in an article a few months earlier, accusing him of corruption. They were able to get a retrial because the original trial was held in their absence and without their knowledge, and they were not even notified of the prefect's suit...
In another development, Jamal Belkadi, "El Watan"'s correspondent in Constantine, 290 km east of Algiers, was manhandled by the head of the prefect's security department while taking photos of the scene of a bombing on 16 May. His camera was confiscated and returned two days later. To his surprise, he was summoned to the prefect's office and was notified that he is being investigated for "crossing a security perimeter." He is due to appear before a judge soon. Other journalists present at the scene of the bombing were ignored.
The case involving Aït-Larbi, the correspondent of the French daily "Le Figaro" and "Ouest-France", is also a retrial, to make up for one held in his absence and without his knowledge. It concerns a libel suit brought by a prison governor whom he accused of mistreating detainees in a 1994 article. Aït-Larbi did not discover that he had been convicted until May 2006, when he applied for a new passport and his request was initially refused. In April 2007, he found himself being arrested at Algiers airport under a warrant issued in 1997.
Gotta love it: they put you on trial, convict you, and don't even tell you. Well, if it's an issue of national secrecy, then why should even the convicted defendant find out?!
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