Reporters sans Frontières (Paris)
18 December 2008
press release
Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to withdraw a criminal libel prosecution against the Algiers-based daily El Watan over a 2004 article accusing a "raqui" (faith healer and exorcist) of being a charlatan. A prosecutor requested a two-month prison sentence for the newspaper's editor, Omar Belhouchet, and one of his reporters, Salima Tlemçani, when they appeared before a court in the Algiers district of Sidi M'hammed today to answer the charge. The faith healer who brought the original libel suit did not turn up for the hearing. The verdict is to be issued on 22 December.
Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide.
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