On Thursday, the Algerian National Assembly approved a new media law that tightens control over the work of journalists and imposes new restrictions and penalties for violations.

Among the main provisions of the text approved on March 28 by the National People's Assembly, the first chamber of parliament, is to prevent the Algerian media from receiving any funding or material assistance, direct or indirect, from any "foreign entity."

The law stipulates that the journalist has the right to “protect his sources,” but he is obligated to disclose them to the judiciary if he is requested to do so.

The new law de facto excludes dual nationals from the right to own or contribute to the ownership of a media outlet in Algeria.

However, the members of the National Assembly "reserved" about Article 22 of the text related to the conditions for obtaining "accreditation" to work in Algeria in foreign media.

In particular, the senators considered that the thirty-day period was "insufficient" to obtain the aforementioned accreditation from the date of submission of the application.

The new law stipulates a fine of up to one million dinars (about seven thousand euros) for anyone who works for a foreign media outlet without obtaining accreditation.

For his part, Sherif Idris, a political science professor at the University of Algiers, told AFP, "We have to wait for the executive texts to see if we are facing a pioneering law compared to the old law, or if it reproduces the same old pattern."

He lamented that "the issuance of executive texts is still slow" in Algeria.

Many members of the Council pointed out during the discussions that there are no executive texts accompanying the draft law.

Algeria ranks 134th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders in 2022.

On April 2, a court sentenced the Algerian journalist, Ihssan El-Kadi, who had been arrested since December, to five years in prison, on charges of receiving money from abroad.