Algerian TV producer dies after self-immolation that followed payment dispute

An Algerian television producer died from severe burns on Thursday more than two weeks after he set fire to himself over unpaid wages, his son told AFP.

Youcef Goucem, 61, doused himself in flammable liquid and lit it in front of the offices of private channel Dzair TV on 7 January after claiming he had not been paid for work on a soap opera in 2017.

"My father died this morning at the Douéra hospital in Algiers, where he had just turned 61," his son Yacine Goucem told AFP. "I visited him on Monday, he was doing well and his doctors had assured him that he was responding well to treatment."

Goucem's desperate act triggered a pouring of outrage among media professionals in Algeria, many of whom decried their anxieties faced at work.

Dzeir TV said it regretted "a commercial dispute that had unfortunately turned into a drama" in a statement after Goucem set himself ablaze.

The channel said Goucem had been reassured by the outlet's new boss that his claim was being processed.