DHAKA TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1995
ALGIERS Oct 9 Sihem has dyed her hair and bought a gun Kanma changes her itinerary dally Lamia has gone under ground often enduring days without a shower reports IPS
Such is the life of a woman reporter in Algeria today where more than 48 journal tats and other professionals — including four women have been killed since 1993 and at least 200 forced to flee the country
The persecuUon of jour nahsts and intellectuals lias taken place against a back drop of violence that leads back to January 1992 when the Algerian authorities can celled a general election the Islamic parties were poised to win
Between 10 000 and 30.000 people have died in
the political conflict since and the lives of those com milled to reporting the atrocities have come to re semble that of a soldier of fortune more than a white collar professional
Since Djaatar El Afghani leader ol the Islamic Armed Group (G1AJ swore to fight with the sword those who are fighting with the pen only war battered Rwanda and Yugoslavia has matched Algeria s grisly record of the number of journalist deaths
According to Paris-based rights group Reporters Sans frontiers. 119 journalists were reportedly assassinated in 1994 and early 1 995 — an absolute record
Amina 35. and a journalist for eight years remembers practising her trade before the advent of terrorism and
censorship before. a journalist was well regarded, she dldn t have to keep her profession a secret, and she did her job in all tranquility But now nothing is as it was before '
Like many of her colleagues, Amina to longer lives at home, the dangers atten dant to her profession have forced ner underground
"Fear? yes I’m afraid Its only human, and I tn not ashamed to admit it But it's not death itself, it’s the atrocities that go with it that I fear she says
Women journalists here In fact must endure the double burden of being members of two groups whose position has clearly deteriorated since the advent of the civil war
According to a Amnesty International rape and death
threats in Algeria are com monplace, and women have been killed for both wearing and not wearing the veil
Women's groups like the Paris-based International Democratic Federation of Women also estimate that more than 356 Algerian women have been assassi nated since 1993 by Islamic extremists
A newspaper editor here already has a ready spiel for female reporters he sends out on assignments “Each time I tell them, look after yourselves, you are doubly threatened, because you are women and because you are fournalists "
Yet Aminai refuses to el ther leave her profession or move to a hostile environ ment
Thirty year-old Sihem
minces no words about the "terrorists who have several times threatened her and members of her family But she persists in signing her political articles, refusing to hide behind a pseudonym
A newspaper editor says not one of his female staff cringes at an assignment and braves family pressure and high risks |ust to do a report even to the remotest part of country
But the constant threat is taking a toll on even the most committed reporters, some of whom find their inspira tion dwindling under the barrage of stress
Their troubles do not end there After all Algeria is a country where a family code codified in 1984 grants women the status of minors, forever subordinate to men.
family s restrictions on a womans movements can endanger her life
This is the case for Fatiha. i 28. who believes her family is acting out of fear more than authoritarianism My parents , would frown on my taking a hotel room, following the ex I ample of male colleagues and certainly of my female col leagues
They are very attached to the proprieties, and are only too capable of forcing me to 1 choose between my Job, hav ing to live In hiding I don't even have time to take a shower or change "
And the stress of resisting I persecution is not limited to the journalist herself Twenty six year old Farida describes how her mother | sadly blds her goodbye each time she leaves the house I