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PARIS (Reuter) - Algeria's independent newspapers denounced the government Wednesday for tightening control on the media ahead of Thursday's referendum to amend the constitution to ban Muslim fundamentalists from rising to power.
"The Defense Committee of Press Freedom rejects this improper practice by the authorities which defies the basic right of the citizen to have a plural and objective media," the committee said in a statement published in the country's main independent newspapers.
The Defense Committee of Press Freedom, grouping editors of the six independent newspapers and leading figures, said the government has monopolized the state media, giving a one-sided view of the proposed constitution designed to prevent politicians from using Islam as a weapon to gain power.
State-controlled television and radio stations have been running extensive coverage of government officials campaigning since October to win support for the draft constitution, which would be put to vote Thursday.
"The Committee, finding that the draft constitution does not establish immunity for press freedom, voices great fear in the face of diminishing margins of expression and threats on press freedom in our country," the committee statement added.
More than 50 journalists have been killed in Algeria in the past three years in attacks blamed on Muslim guerrillas.
The Algerian authorities have shut down 20 publications during that time over reports on the country's violence.
An estimated 60,000 people have died in Algeria since early 1992 when the authorities cancelled a general election in which radical Islamists had taken a commanding lead.
Reuters/Variety