Algeria closes private TV channel over ‘subversive interview’

The Algerian security forces yesterday shut the privately owned El Watan TV channel after an interview with an Islamic extremist who threatened President Abdelaziz Bouteflika during an interview broadcast by the channel, a source at the channel said.

On 3 October, El Watan TV broadcast an interview with Madani Mezrag, the former head of the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) the armed wing of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), during which he spoke of his plans to set up a political party and criticised Bouteflika for rejecting his initiative.

“If he (the president) does not review his position, he will hear from me what he has never heard before,” Mezrag said in the interview.

A source at the Ministry of Communication said that Minister Hamid Grine asked the governor of Algiers to take the necessary steps to close El Watan over “subversive remarks and attacks against the symbol of the state”.

The channel’s owner, Dfajar Chelli said: “The communications minister last week threatened to prosecute the channel via judiciary channels, today we are surprised with the sudden closure order.”

Chelli said he would appeal the decision.

El Watan TV is based in London and broadcasts from Cyprus and has offices in Amman, Geneva and Madrid.