Interrogated in London, Ali Fodil tells the story

Echorouk general manager, Ali Fodil was interrogated in London under Terrorism Act. He tells here the full detailed story of his bizarre journey.

• Invited by a British company, to visit printing press machinery, fodil had also to go via Paris. He took part from there in a talk show on Al jazeera TV.
• At the way out of the Euro tunnel to reach the British territories, he was intercepted by police officers. They conducted him to their office.
• Interrogation started by a bold and shocking question to a publisher and owner of the largest newspaper in Algeria. The officer asked:
• “you are run the largest newspaper in your country. What about cooperating?”
• “you have easy access to a lot of information that are interesting for us, what if we exchange information?”, he added.
• Fodil replied:
• No way. Echorouk is an Algerian newspaper. It is not a British corporation. You need to see someone else. You are wasting your time.
• The officer who introduced himself as a British Intelligence agent asked Fodil about his call to break Gaza blockade in Paris. They suggested providing a lawyer for him, which he rejected.
• The officer asked:
• Do you know GIA and GSPC?
• Fodil replied:
• I read in the press about them.
• The officer asked: do you have information about their mater minds?
• Fodil replied:
• Their master minds are in your country. You are more informed about them than we are. They are free in Britain.
• The officer asked:
• why do you say GSPC and GIA and not Al Qaeda in the Maghreb?
• Fodil replied:
• It is simple. You are promoting Al Qaeda, however for us it is GSPC which has been defeated by Algerian security forces. There is no Al Qaeda in Algeria.
• The officer asked:
• What are the sources of your information?
• Fodil replied:
• The law protects the source of information for journalists. It is a universal norm. I do not reveal my sources to Algerian authorities let alone a foreign intelligence service. No way.
• The interrogators wanted also to know about the legal dispute that Echorouk had with the Libyan leader Muammar Kaddafi.
• The officer asked:
• Do not you think that the sentence was severe?
• Fodil replied:
• Justice in my country is independent. And we appealed.
• The officer asked:
• The government was in favour of Kaddafi because he paid a ransom to GSPC in order free the Austrian tourists?
• Fodil replied:
• This is under the sole Algerian authority prerogatives.