THE Algerian authorities have denied a local newspaper report that the country's top jailed Islamist leader would be released this month, the official Algerian news agency APS said.
"One authorised official source has described the reported information as peddling of ... rumours to which he projects the most clear denial," it said.
The source was reacting to a report in yesterday's edition of La Tribune, which said that Sheikh Abassi Madani, in jail since 1991, could be freed very soon, linking his release to a possible ceasefire to be declared by his group now fighting the government.
The French language daily La Tribune, quoting "reliable sources", said Sheikh Madani, leader of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), could be freed on February 16th.
An announcement of the release "may occur either at the same time as or days before a unilateral ceasefire", according to the report, but there was no independent confirmation.
The Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the armed wing of FIS, has hinted several times in the past few months it was considering a unilateral truce to try to find a way out of the political crisis has affected Algeria since the authorities cancelled the elections 1992 as FIS was poised to win.
Sheikh Madani (64) has been jail since June 1991 and is currently serving a 12 year jail term for conspiracy to overthrow the state. At times, he and other FIS leaders have been taken out of prison and put under house arrest for negotiations with the government, only to return to jail when the talks broke down.
Political analysts say it is no longer clear if Sheikh Madani can control armed militants who, since 1992, have waged war against the government in a struggle costing 50,000 lives.
At the end of last week, suspected Muslim guerrillas slaughtered 11 members of an Algerian family, including a baby and two women, according to a report in the leading Arab language newspaper, al Khabar.