BOUIRA, Algeria—Anti-censorship groups have criticized Algeria’s government for launching an assault on the media with a wave of arrests, detention of journalists and the blocking of several popular news websites.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based media watchdog, has urged authorities in the North African country to lift a block on three news outlets that have been suspended in recent weeks.
“Algerian authorities must immediately unblock the news websites Interlignes, Maghreb Emergent and Radiom, and ensure that all media outlets can publish online freely,” the committee said in an online statement in April.
Campaigners have also denounced the arrest and detention of Algerian journalists who covered demonstrations as part of a nationwide protest movement that erupted in February 2019 and has persisted even as the country battles the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Media censorship and the imprisonment of journalists may further darken the image of our country at the bottom of the press freedom ladder,” Ichaâllalen told Zenger News.
