Algeria announced the withdrawal of the accreditation granted to the representation in Algiers of the French news channel France24, which devoted media coverage to recent events in Algeria. Algerian Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer explained this withdrawal by “hostility” against his country.
Another blow to the freedom of the press and a new manifestation of the authoritarianism of the Algerian power, the television channel France 24, which was accredited to work in Algeria, sees this precious work permit withdrawn because of the anger of the Algerian government , not satisfied with the media coverage of events in the country, especially Hirak.
“The manifest and repeated hostility against our country and its institutions, the non-respect of the rules of professional ethics, disinformation and manipulation as well as a proven aggressiveness towards Algeria” are at the origin of the withdrawal of accreditation.
The Minister of Communication, and spokesperson for the Algerian government announced this decision to the official Algerian press agency, APS, explaining that this decision comes after several warnings sent to the said television channel.
Yet it is to this same television channel that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune went to give an exclusive interview in order to settle scores, convey the army’s messages and give them an international reach.
Algeria recently banned the Hirak marches, the Algerian president seeing that the Algerians do not budge and continue to demand democracy and the fall of the military regime in a context of serious political, economic and social crisis.
While he called the pro-democracy protest movement a “blessed Hirak” following his contested 2019 election, which was carried out on the back of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President Tebboune recently banned the marches claiming that it is heterogeneous and no longer has reason to exist.
While he had released several prisoners of conscience under pressure from the street and the international community, Tebboune had recently declared to have “the impression that this has been interpreted as a weakness. People thought that we (the power, editor’s note) had our backs to the wall. They were wrong, ”he said.
In its new tour de force, the Algerian government is now attacking the foreign press after having imprisoned several journalists and opinion leaders. This time, the accreditation of France 24 is final according to Ammar Belhimer.
“France 24’s bias in covering the Friday marches is flagrant, going so far as to resort, without restraint, to archive images to backdate them in order to help the anti-national residue made up of reactionary organizations or separatists, with international ramifications, ”the Ministry of Communication noted in a statement in March.
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