Algerian court freezes sale of opposition media corporation

An administrative court in Algiers ruled on Wednesday to freeze the sale of opposition al-Khabar media group that has been critical of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The $45 million bid by billionaire Issad Rebrab, the country’s richest entrepreneur, to purchase the group would have added an influential daily newspaper and a TV channel to his estimated $3.3 billion portfolio.

Dozens of journalists and employees gathered outside the administrative court despite heavy police presence.

Lawyer Khalid Burajo said “the sale will not have any legal effect”.

“We cannot win a case of this magnitude before the state because the judiciary is influenced by the executive power,” he added.

Cherif Rezki, Al-Khabar chief, condemned what he called Algeria’s trend towards authoritarianism and intolerance.

The government cited in its opposition of the sale an article in the law that prevents a single legal entity owning more than one Algerian daily newspaper, saying Rebrab already owns the French-language daily Liberte.