| Intro | Algerian journalist |
| Is | Journalist |
| From | Algeria |
| Type | Journalism |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
1 July 1952, Miliana |
| Age | 68 years |
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.
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, the daily Le Matin, newspaper 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)
PEN (the international association of writers) says Benchicou’s prison conditions are harsh, with 50 prisoners to a cell. Benchicou’s health has reportedly deteriorated since his imprisonment and he is now seriously ill.
Benchicou also published a book in 2004 that called Bouteflika an Algerian “fraud”, believed to be the source of all his juridic problems.
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