Algeria

CRNI and Cartooning For Peace: “Acquit Nime”

Prior to Christmas we wrote about Abdelhamid Amine aka Nime, jailed in Algeria after posting anti-government cartoons during the Hirak protests that preceded December’s presidential election. The cartoonist was released on January 2nd.

Although he and many other detained protestors walked free last week the charges levelled against him were not dropped, nor were the various equipment and effects from the Creature graphic design studio seized at the time of his arrest returned. Yesterday Nime was in court again to hear the next stage in proceedings. As reported by Comité National pour la Libération des Détenus, the partial amnesty extended to members of Hirak was only half the story, with many still in prison and more prosecutions yet to come. There was therefore little reason to expect his exoneration.

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Cartooning For Peace association, Paris and its Swiss foundation in Geneva together with CRNI are disappointed to learn that Nime remains criminalised, albeit with a suspended sentence. While the communal equipment taken from the Creature studio has been handed over, Nime’s personal devices and digital archives remain confiscated, meaning he will not be able to resume his creative work right away. In addition the court levied a small fine of 20,000 DZD.

Our organisations unequivocally condemn the decision and demand Nime’s acquittal.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT IN ENGLISH
LIRE LE DÉCLARATION COMPLÈTE EN FRANÇAIS

“It was cheering to start 2020 with news that Nime had been spared any further time in prison. The conditions reported to us where extremely poor and there were legitimate concerns for his health as a result. Despite his return to friends and family the principle at stake has not changed; this young man has been criminalised merely for making satirical comment about government and military officials. That the court should withhold material in an apparent attempt to prevent further cartoons confirms the very point that he and his fellow members of the Hirak movement want to amplify. The top tier in Algeria may have reshuffled in December but substantive reform is not forthcoming.”

Terry Anderson, Acting Executive Director, CRNI

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

CRNI and Cartooning For Peace: “Free Nime”

International organizations concerned with cartoonists’ freedom of expression have made a joint statement, calling for the immediate release of criminalized Algerian cartoonist Abdelhamid Amine.

Together with Cartooning For Peace association in Paris and the Cartooning For Peace Swiss Foundation, CRNI urges all concerned parties to join in an effort to ensure the welfare of the cartoonist Nime – jailed last week for “insulting” the state of Algeria – is not forgotten during the festive season.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT IN ENGLISH
LIRE LE DÉCLARATION COMPLÈTE EN FRANÇAIS

“He is in a large room at Oran Civil Prison where one hundred and fifty people are crammed. No access to writing material. Even books are refused. His family may visit once every two weeks for only twenty minutes, speaking through a window and intercom. His head has been shaved.”

A contact in Oran describes the conditions in which Nime is being held.

If you’re a cartoonist, please post an image in solidarity with Nime to social media using the hashtags below and show those still protesting for their democratic rights in Algeria that the world is watching.

We are following developments closely and send our sincere best wishes to the family, friends and colleagues of Nime who have been greatly distressed by his injurious prosecution and imprisonment.

Abdelhamid Amine, cartoonist known as Nime.
Abdelhamid Amine, the imprisoned Algerian cartoonist known as Nime.
Photo courtesy of the family.

• #FreeNime • #LibérezNime •

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Algeria: cartoonist Nime jailed for three months

After being arrested in his studio in Oran over a week ago, the graphic designer and cartoonist Abdelhamid Amine aka Nime was found guilty of “insulting” figures of the state earlier today.

Prosecutors had requested eighteen months hard time but the ultimate sentence was for one year’s imprisonment with nine months suspended, information confirmed in a statement from Nime’s colleagues.

COMMUNIQUE —————Le verdict concernant le procès de Nime a été rendu aujourd'hui, le 11/12/2019 à 10h30 au…

Posted by Creature on Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Nime’s plight may be added to the long list of troubling developments for Algerian cartoonists, from the bullying and blacklisting in the same city of Oran as reported by Nour el Yakine Ferhaoui to the arrest of Tahar Djehiche on charges similar to those levelled at Nime and all the way back to the prosecution of Ali Dilem that led to our giving him an award for courage in 2006.

Tomorrow’s presidential election and the crackdown on the months-long “hirak” protest movement provide the clear context for Nime’s arrest and his is just one case among many as the country braces itself for further unrest and a potential redoubling of authoritarianism.

“CRNI is dismayed to find that Nime’s freedom of expression has been so harshly and definitively curtailed and we extend our solidarity to his friends and colleagues in Oran.”

Terry Anderson, Acting Executive Director

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Algeria: cartoonist Nime charged with “insulting the state”

Abdelhamid Amine, known by the pen-name Nime, was arrested in Oran, Algeria amid a wider crackdown prior to next week’s presidential elections.

Organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported on the increase in police action against activists, protestors and others as Algeria prepares to elect a new leader, delayed since April when President Bouteflika suddenly resigned and polling was postponed.

Nime was picked up by police in the city of Oran on November 26th. Today, December 5th, charges were brought on “insult to the state and to representative figures of the state”. His new status as a criminally accused individual was confirmed by a statement from colleagues at the Creature design studio, where Nime was arrested.

COMMUNIQUE —–Benabdelhamid Amine, dit Nime, a été jugé aujourd'hui'hui au tribunal de Cité Djamel à Oran. Le…

Posted by Creature on Thursday, December 5, 2019

A verdict is expected on December 11th, the day before the election, and social media users in the area say a sentence of 18 months in prison has been requested by prosecutors. The charges apparently arise from a series of four cartoons posted on Nime’s blog between November 3rd and 14th, although no specific cartoon has been cited in court.

Unsurprisingly, the Francophonic and Arabic-speaking cartooning fraternities have been quick to respond to Nime’s plight, posting cartoons in solidarity on social media. Some have taken Nime’s allusion to Cinderella in the first of his four cartoons as their cue, others have used his distinctive silhouette avatar.

We await the outcome of next week’s court proceedings in Oran with acute interest.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Oran, Algeria: “a cry from the heart against incompetent authorities”

An Algerian cartoonist continues to be stymied by short-notice, unexplained cancellations and unanswered questions in the city of Oran.

Earlier this year we reported about the last-minute cancellation of an international cartoon festival in Oran that the organiser contended was due to sabotage by others working in the same field.

Now, in an open letter to Algerian Minister for the Interior Noureddine Bedoui published in Le Matin, cartoonist Nour El Yakine Ferhaoui levels further accusations of incompetence at the authorities responsible for cultural provision in the city and asks why he is being ignored by those who previously expressed willingness to work with him.

Specifically, Ferhaoui describes being tasked with the renovation, cultural programme and communications for a municipal exhibition space in Oran last August. He contacted local artists and organised a season of events and exhibitions, notifying the press of dates to come in the final quarter of this year. He says his ideas and initiatives were well-received after “a decade of paralysis”.

But now that goodwill has evaporated and Ferhaoui is being ignored, even by the people who appointed him to the role in the first place. He accuses those responsible for cultural provision in the city of allowing “Oran, this western city of light to become a capital of mediocrity and a nest of unhealthy officials for whom culture is a system of massive destruction.”

Ferhaoui says that since the cancellation of the Oran cartoon festival he is effectively persona non grata in Algeria, and so whether intentional or nor those who sought to forestall the event have effectively ended his career. This would seem to be borne out by the sudden collapse of his subsequent projects with local contemporary artists.  The reasons why remain unknown. We sincerely hope that he receives answers soon.

Nour El Yakine Ferhaoui with CRNI Deputy Executive Director Terry Anderson in Saint-Just-le-Martel, France, October 2018

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

Algeria: international cartoon festival “sabotaged”

Cartoonist reports cancellation of international exhibition, contends he is victim of a conspiracy.

Our attention has been drawn to the cancellation of the inaugural Salon international de la caricature, du dessin de presse et d’humour d’Oran, Algeria which had been set to take place in May.

The organizer, cartoonist Nour El Yakine Ferhaoui was forced to change plans and rather than have a physical show put on a “Salon virtuelle” in co-operation with Le Matin newspaper.

In an interview with the Algerian edition of Le Matin Ferhaoui names his guarantors as Kouider Bouziane, the current Director of Culture of the city of Oran and Boucif Belhachemi, the regional director of the National Office of Copyright and Neighboring Law of Oran (ONDA) before the entire project was “derailed”.

Further he accuses an unnamed Algerian cartoonist closely associated with FIBDA (the International Comics Festival of Algiers) of harrassment and making statements to the effect that he “sabotaged” the event in Oran. Ferhaoui tells us he has been rendered “persona non grata” in Algeria.

CRNI’s regional representative in Canada, cartoonist Guy “Bado” Badeaux covered the Salon on his blog earlier this year. Ferhaoui had attracted participation from dozens of cartoonists in twelve nations as well as across Algeria and made arrangement for visas for six foreign visitors during his event.

Professional jealousy comes with the territory in the creative sector but the suggestion that cartoonists would stymie each others’ endeavours in a country like Algeria where colleagues have been actively silenced by the authorities on more than one occasion is especially troubling.

Ferhaoui will attend the 37th Salon international de la caricature, du dessin de presse et d’humour in Saint-Just-le-Martel, France later this year and provide a fuller account of the incident at the annual meeting of France-Cartoons.

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