Benaamane, a correspondent for the official Algerian Press Service (APS) in the southern town of Tamanrasset, was arrested by security forces. The reasons for Benaamane’s imprisonment are unclear, but reports indicate that he was charged with “attacking the security of the state and national unity” in connection with an internal APS news wire report he
filed on the whereabouts of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj, leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) who had recently been transferred from Janan al-Mufti prison to a detention center in the desert. Benaamane appeared before a Tamanras- set military court on July 10. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.