On 28 June 2005, an Algiers court sentenced Ali Dilem, a cartoonist with the daily "Liberté", and Farid Alilat, the daily's former publication director, to six months in prison and a 250,000 dinar (approx. US$3,500) fine. The paper was fined 1.5 million dinars (approx. US$21,100). Alilat, who is presently out of the country, was sentenced in absentia.
The legal action against the journalists and "Liberté" followed the paper's publication of a cartoon in September 2003 that dealt with the 2004 presidential election. Both journalists and the paper were accused of "insulting the head of state".
