Omar Belhouchet

Omar Belhouchet
Born (1954-02-09) 9 February 1954 (age 70)
Sétif, Algeria
NationalityAlgerian
Alma materUniversity of Algiers
Occupationjournalist
OrganizationEl Watan
AwardsInternational Press Freedom Award (1993)
Golden Pen of Freedom Award (1998)
World Press Freedom Hero (2000)

Omar Belhouchet (Arabic: عمر بلهوشات; born 9 February 1954 in Sétif[1]) is an Algerian journalist who is renowned for his investigative reporting and supporting freedom of the press; his work and persistence have received international recognition. During the civil war of the 1990s, which put enormous pressure on the free press from both sides, Belhouchet was prosecuted numerous times by his government and survived two assassination attempts.

Belhouchet started his journalism career at Algérie Presse Service followed by reporting for El Moudjahid (English: "The Holy Warrior"), the FLN government-owned newspaper. After the government allowed independent newspapers, in 1990 Belhouchet founded the daily newspaper El Watan (English: "The Nation"), together with nineteen colleagues from El Moudjahid.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference IPI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Youssef M. Ibrahim (26 July 1991). "Algeria in Ferment – A Special Report; In Algeria, Hope for Democracy but Not Economy". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2011.