Mohammed Benchicou

Mohammed Boualem Benchicou محمد بنشيكو
Mohamed Benchicou signing autographs
Born	(1952-07-01) July 1, 1952 (age 71) Miliana, Aïn Defla Province
Nationality	Algerian
Occupation(s)	Journalist, activist
Known for	Le Matin newspaper, Bouteflika.. an Algerian Fraud

Mohammed Boualem Benchicou (Arabic: محمد بنشيكو; born 1952 in Miliana, Aïn Defla Province) was the director and publisher of the Algerian newspaper Le Matin (English: the sunrise), closed in August 2006.^[1]

Career

In 1989, he was one of the founders of the movement of Algerian journalists (MJA) a movement born during the opening of the media field. He then leads the team which relaunched Alger Républicain, banned from publication in 1965. Benchicou left Alger Républicain in 1991 with Saïd Mekbel and Fodil Mezali and founded the daily newspaper Le Matin of opposition.

In June 2004, he was sentenced to two years in prison for an infraction in money exchange regulation. In July, SIMPRAL, the Algiers-based government publisher, stopped printing Le Matin for its failure to pay a debt of 38 million dinars ($535,200)^[2]

PEN (the international association of writers) describes the prison in which Benchicou was in as harsh and infested with lice and cockroaches; with 50 prisoners to a cell. Benchicou's health has reportedly deteriorated since his imprisonment which caused him to develop arthritis; consequently, he lost the ability to use his right hand for writing.^[3]

Benchicou also published a book in 2004 called Bouteflika, an Algerian “fraud”, believed to be the source of all his juridic problems.^[4]^[5]

Personal life

Mohamed Benchicou is the eldest of a family of seven children. He is married and father of three children, two girls and a boy.

Awards and honors

2006 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award

Bibliography

Bouteflika, une imposture algérienne (Bouteflika an Algerian "Fake"), Le Matin Editions - Picollec, 2004
Les geôles d’Alger (Prisons of Algiers), Inas - Riveneuve, 2007
Je pardonnerai, (I'll Forgive, Poems), Inas, 2008
Journal d'un homme libre, (A Freeman's Diaries) Auteur-Riveneuve, 2008
Notre ami Bouteflika, de l'état rêvé à l'état scélérat (Our Friend Bouteflika), Riveneuve, 2010
Le mensonge de Dieu (God's Lie), Michalon, 2011
Le dernier soir du dictateur (Last Night of a Dictator), Riveneuve, 2011

External links

Personal website
Online Newspaper

References

^ On August 23, 2003, border police at Algiers airport searched Benchicou’s baggage in his presence and found certificates issued by a bank in Algeria and valued at 11.7 million Algerian dinars (U.S.$127,000)
^ "Report on Human Rights Practices for 2004 -Algeria". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
^ "MOHAMMED BENCHICOU". pen.org. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
^ "Mohamed Benchicou condamné - Afrik.com : l'actualité de l'Afrique noire et du Maghreb - Le quotidien panafricain". Afrik.com. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
^ "Mohamed Benchicou : " L'Algérie est une bombe à retardement "". lepoint.fr. 1 June 2018.