Algerian law legalizing oppressive practices against journalists raises rights watchdogs alarm

After a series of arbitrary arrests and bogus charges against outspoken reporters, Algeria moved to institutionalize its crackdown on free speech through a law that makes muzzling the press a legal process.

The law includes provisions forcing journalists to uncover their sources and bans receiving foreign funds, a charge that has been used to shutdown Algeria’s last free media Radio M, whose editor Kadi Ihsane in chief received 5 years in jail with 2 suspended.

Reporters without Borders urged the Algerian Senate to reject the bill, which was approved on March 28 by the lower house.

Khaled Drareni, North Africa representative for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said the effect of the laws will “not be positive” on journalism in the country.

Algeria is ranked 134th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.

The law also institutes discrimination by banning Algerian dual nationals from owning all or a part of shares of a media organization.

It further restricts access by foreign media organizations by fining them with up to 7400 dollars in case they reported in the country without proper accreditation.

Accreditation in Algeria has always been used as a means to restrict access of independent journalists to reporting in the country.

The law, according to rights activists, would further bolster the media blackout imposed by Algerian authorities as the country heads straight to economic collapse due to its dependence on oil and gas prices that are doomed to drop while the domestic consumption is set to increase, undermining exports and auguring ill for the country’s social peace.