Algeria

Twenty years after the beginning of the Algerian Civil War which started in December 1991 justice is still denied by Algerian authorities. No efforts were undertaken to investigate the disappearance of thousands of citizens or other serious human rights violations. Despite the long awaited lifting of the state of emergency which was first imposed in 1992 and renewed indefinitely since 1993, civil liberties have not been fully restored. Violations of press freedom and the freedom of association and assembly are widespread. “Terrorism” suspects were detained and held incommunicado. Some Christian worshippers were intimidated and put in prison; churches were closed by the authorities. By using harsh repression the Government of Algeria tried to prevent that “Arab Spring”-minded protests could blossom in the country. Despite the democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Syria, the Algerian Governments maintains a policy of systematically denying basic human rights to Algeria’s citizens.

Anti-government demonstrations crushed

In the first days of January 2011 riots broke out in the capital Algiers over food prices and unemployment that left three people dead. Riot police, armed with teargas and batons maintained a strong presence around the capital’s main mosques. Hundreds of youths clashed with police in several cities in Eastern Algeria and ransacked stores in Algiers. After the escalation of these protests against misery the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (NCCD) called for democracy protests in Algiers on February 12, 2011. The authorities insisted that all public protests are forbidden in the capital and they deployed up to 30,000 riot police to prevent any public protests. On the day of the planned demonstration all train lines in the capital were closed down to limit numbers attending the protest. All roads leading to the planned site of the public protest were blocked and metal barricades and checkpoints were set up to prevent protesters from entering. Despite intimidation and massive security provisions several thousand people- among them leading representatives of the civil society and the pro-democracy movement -attempted to participate in the peaceful demonstration. Up to 10.000 people demonstrated in the streets. But only 50 persons managed to reach the square in Central Algiers where the protests were due to take place. After minutes they were surrounded by hundreds of police and many protesters were arrested. Opposition parliamentarian Tahar Besbas of the party Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) was hospitalized with an apparent head injury after he was clubbed by police. Algeria’s Interior Ministry declared that 14 people had been held in custody and then released, but the independent Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) claimed that 300 protesters had been arrested in various Algerian cities.

Despite the announcement on March 24, 2011, to lift the state of emergency, the authorities attempted to break up a rally of anti-government protesters in the city of Oran on March 5, 2011. Half an hour before the scheduled start of the demonstration called by the NCCD the police arrested some 100 persons including a dozen Algerian journalists, although they presented their press cards. They were taken to different police stations and the freed after about half an hour. The same day in the city of Batna, police intervened to break up a public protest of the pro-democracy movement. Around 10 protesters briefly were arrested and police confiscated a camera. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has warned that even after the lifting of the state of emergency a longstanding ban on public protests in Algiers will remain in place.

Algerian human rights activists protested against these violations of the right to assembly and media freedom and criticized arbitrary arrests and the excessive and disproportionate use of force during popular demonstrations and protest movements.

Human rights defenders intimidated

Human rights activists of the LADDH have been protesting against their judicial harassment by the authorities. The president of LADDH in the province of Laghouat, Yacine Zaid, was summoned by police to present himself on September 4, 2011, in the town of Batna to the authorities. The human rights defender had never been to Batna which is located 500 km from his home. He was interrogated about his involvement in LADDH, about his online blog and about his activities in the movement Chaouie Youthe for Change. The Chaouie are a Berber minority in Algeria which is actively lobbying for more democracy.

In June 2011 two LADDH events were banned by the provincial authorities of Algiers and El-Taref. Two members of LADDH recently were prosecuted. The human rights defender Omar Farouk Slimani , member of LADDH in the province of Laghouat, had to appear before court in May 2011 for “unarmed gathering” and “violent assault against law enforcement officers”. He was arrested during the riots in January 2011at a checkpoint far from the riots. He was taken into custody only after police officers had found his membership card of LADDH. The member of the LADDH national council, Karmel Eddine Fekhar was prosecuted by a court in Ghardaia for setting fire to a police car. The trial in May 2011 ended with his acquittal.

Several members of LADDH are facing legal proceedings, including Hassan Bouras, a journalist and member of the governing board of LADDH, who has faced prosecution on several occasions since 2003. The member of the national council of LADDH, the lawyer Naamane Daghbouche, has been facing lengthy court proceedings since 2007.

Freedom of association denied

The 1990 Association Act imposes very restrictive limitations on who can create an association. In practice it can take years for some associations to be registered because of excessive government interference. Registration has been denied to most organizations critical of government policies. Associations are prohibited from having any institutional or structural relations with political parties. Associations criticizing government policy are blaming the authorities for monitoring their telephones and surveillance. There are multiple restrictions on the ability of associations to assemble or demonstrate.

Freedom of expression under threat

During the public protests of the pro-democracy movement in February 2011 Internet access was blocked in parts of Algeria by the authorities and Facebook accounts deliberately were deleted to limit mobilization of protesters by social media. Furthermore foreign journalists had their visas denied to limit the media coverage of the protests. Algerian journalists were intimidated by short time arrests and threats.

Religious freedom violated

Algerian Christians have been under attack as laws have been increasingly enforced to discriminate them. In May 2011 seven Protestant churches in the Bejaja province have been closed down by the authorities. The churches are to be closed permanently for exercising religious worship other than Islam without authorization or the compliance of the National Commission for Non-Muslim Religious Services. The leaders of the seven churches were summoned by the police to sign a document accepting the order of closure, but they refused to comply.

On May 25, 2011, the Christian Siagh Krimo has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by the criminal court in Oran after sharing his faith with a neighbour. On December 12, 2010, four Christians of a small Protestant church in the Tizi Ouzou province have been sentenced to two-month suspended prison terms.

Impunity

Up to 200.000 people have died during the Algerian Civil War between 1991 and 2002. Thousands have “disappeared” after being taken away by the security forces and hundreds of thousands have been wounded in violent confrontations between the conflict parties. Rape, massacres, arbitrary arrests, abductions, ill-treatment, torture and extrajudicial killings were common place. The families of the victims have a legitimate desire and a right to truth and justice. But justice still is denied by the authorities. The human rights movement and “SOS Disparus”, a representation of the relatives of the victims, and other associations have been lobbying for years to bring those, responsible for the violence, before court. In September 2005 a national referendum was organized on an amnesty proposal by the Algerian Government to end legal proceedings against individuals who were no longer fighting and to provide compensation to relatives of victims of violence committed by police and army. The controversial Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation has been approved in a referendum by an overwhelming majority of the population which wanted to turn the page of violence and civil war. The Charter has been adopted by Presidential decree in September 2006. Most controversial are the guarantees of impunity for army personnel and former rebel fighters.

Fifteen years after the assassination of seven monks of the Tibhirine monastery of the Roman Catholic Trappist Order new documents were published in September 2011indicating that the official Algerian Security Service (DRS) was deeply involved in the killings. The Algerians authorise until today are refusing any comment and information on the background of the assassination which has caused worldwide indignation.

Ten years after the Black Berber Spring in Kabylia, Berbers still are urging the authorities to end impunity. In April 2001 thousands of Berber activists and pro-democracy campaigners have protested for cultural autonomy and for the respect of basic human rights. Some 126 Protesters were killed by the security forces and several hundred people were injured. Until today no police or army officer, responsible for the deliberate killings, has been brought to justice.

In relation to the Human Rights Council, we urge the German government to:

• work for a call on the Algerian government to fully restore and respect civil liberties, including the freedom of assembly, association, religion , expression and information;

   

   

• request a call on the government to stop harassing human rights defenders and to release all prisoners of conscience

   

   

• persuade a call on the government to o end impunity and to bring all perpetrators of massive human rights violations to justice;

   

   

• urge the OHCHR to provide an independent report on impunity in Algeria

   

   

• persuade the United Nations Human Rights Council to offer technical assistance to the Algerian authorities in order to provide justice to the victims of massive human rights violations

   

   

• work towards a debate at the Forum of Ethnic Minority Issues of the United Nations on the situation of ethnic minority Berbers and their demands for cultural autonomy.

   

  In relation to EU-relationships with Algeria we expect from the German government to:

   

• press for a call on the Algerian government to guarantee the freedom of assembly and association and to refrain from arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders and political dissidents and from any excessive use of violence against protesters

   

   

• urge the Algerian government to do more for political reforms, good governance and democratization

   

   

• insist on credible efforts to end impunity. The EU should no longer refrain from raising human rights violations in their talks to the Algerian leadership. Especially the EU should press for an end of the harassment of human rights defenders.