ALGIERS – Friday, 22 September 2023 (APS) – Minister of Communication Mohamed Laagab received Thursday evening the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, as part of his working visit to Algeria, the ministry said in a statement.
During this meeting, the minister presented an clear and exhaustive overview of the strategy implemented for the sector, as part of the presentation of the articles of the new law on information and the guarantees it offers.”
In this respect, Laagab said that “the Algerian laws on press do not provide for the sentences involving loss of liberty,” underlining that “the sentences are minimal and do not concern at all the freedom of expression but rather modes of management.”
The new law on information “obliges media establishments to ensure a continuing training for journalists and offer them life insurance when exercising their duties in crisis areas,” he added.
The laws in force are “adapted to the fight against corruption in all its forms, which is one of the 54 commitments of the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune,” said the minister.
Concerning censorship, Laagab affirmed that it doesn’t exist in Algeria, “except for the downstream censorship, when spreading a speech of hatred, discrimination and attacking the symbols of the State, or of a defamatory and insulting nature, practices that are criminalized by the Algerian law.”
In this regard, the minister underlined “the ongoing preparations to set up a training program for journalists, enabling them to better understand the legal texts governing the profession in order to avoid former practices and mistakes.”
For his part, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule tackled a number of issues related to the guarantee of journalists’ rights and freedoms.