Algerian cartoonist Ali Dilem has been chosen as the co-recipient of CRNI’s 2006 Courage In Editorial Cartooning Award. In February of this year, Mr Dilem was sentenced to one year in jail and a 50,000 dinar fine for a set of cartoons printed in the newspaper Liberté. In announcing the choice, CRNI President Joel Pett noted that “CRNI is proud to stand in support of cartoonists rights to express their points of view, whether popular or not. Mr. Dilem has shown tremendous courage in the face of unrelenting political pressure.”
Mr. Dilem has faced jail time as well as death threats on more than one occasion during his career, along with sustained intimidation aimed at convincing him to leave the country. Rejecting both self-censorship and exile, where he continues his uncompromising drawings for Liberté.
