Journalist denounces that he was expelled from Algeria without explanation

ALGIERS (AP) — An Algerian journalist was expelled from Algeria after arriving on a flight from France and not being able to leave the airport, at a time when journalists continue to face difficulties working in the North African country.

Farid Alilat, who works for the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique, wrote on Facebook that he was detained by police at the airport for 11 hours on Saturday, and that police put him on a plane to France, where he has a residence permit.

He said that he usually flies from Paris to Algiers to report on events in Algeria, where for years he has been a journalist known for his work with newspapers such as Liberté, which was closed in 2022 amid financial problems and disputes with the government and the company. Algerian state oil company, both of which are important advertisers in the country’s newspapers.

In an extensive post in which he wrote about his deportation as if it were a newspaper article, Alilat said that the police who received him at the airport told him that they were acting under orders “from above.”

He said he was questioned about his travels, who he has met and about Jeune Afrique, which Algerian authorities consider biased toward its neighbor and regional rival, Morocco.

“I totally understand that my articles provoke irritation. I am a free journalist. I cover the news of my country as a free and independent journalist,” Alilat wrote, adding that he was given no explanation, not even verbal or written, for his expulsion.

He added that he had never before heard of any problems with the police or the courts in Algeria regarding his articles.

Few Algerian media reported on Alilat’s expulsion and few politicians commented on it. Former communications minister Abdelaziz Rahabi called it “a measure from another era that serves neither the people nor the government.”

“No one can be arbitrarily stripped of their right to enter their own country,” he wrote on Facebook.

The episode is the latest in several cases of the Algerian government imposing restrictions on journalists and comes as prominent journalists – such as editors Ihsane El Kadi and Mustapha Benjama – are in jail on charges related to the use of foreign funds. and disturbance of public order.

The government, however, has also once again granted authorizations to journalists who create new media outlets or television programs, and last year passed a law that established protections for journalists.