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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In March, a court in Ghardaia referred 

human rights lawyer Salah Dabouz of LADDH 

to trial in relation to comments he made on 

television about unrest in Ghardaia and for 

allegedly carrying a computer and camera 

during a visit to detained activists. The court 

had kept him under judicial supervision from 

July 2016 until March 2017, forcing him to 

travel more than 600km twice a week to 

report to the court in Ghardaia from his home 

in Algiers.

In April, the investigative judge at a court in 

Medea transferred a case against human 

rights lawyer Noureddine Ahmine of the 

Network of Lawyers for the Defence of 

Human Rights (RADDH) to a court in 

Ghardaia for trial on charges of “insulting a 

public institution” and “falsely” reporting an 

offence. The charges related to a complaint 

of torture that he had filed, apparently on 

behalf of someone else, in 2014.

UNFAIR TRIALS

In May, a court in Medea unfairly convicted 

the founder of the Movement for the 

Autonomy of the Mzab (MAM), Kamaleddine 

Fekhar, and 21 of his 41 co-defendants of 

murder, terrorism and other serious offences, 

for their alleged role in communal violence in 

Ghardaia province between 2013 and 2015 

which left an estimated 25 people dead.

2

They were sentenced to prison terms of 

between three and five years, partially 

suspended. All were then released between 

May and July 2017 after having served their 

sentence. Among the 41 defendants, 37 had 

been in pre-trial detention, many since 2015.

In July, the Spanish authorities detained 

MAM activists Salah Abbouna and Khodir 

Sekkouti after Algerian authorities filed an 

extradition request against them, citing their 

criticism of Algerian authorities on Facebook. 

In October the Spanish authorities released 

both activists on bail awaiting the National 

High Court’s decision on extradition.

FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF

More than 280 members of the minority 

Ahmadi religious movement were prosecuted 

in relation to their religious beliefs and 

practices during the year.

3

 From April 

onwards, courts released 16 Ahmadis after 

reducing or suspending their sentences, 

while dozens of others remained under 

investigation or on trial and five remained in 

detention. In August, authorities rearrested 

Mohamed Fali, head of the Ahmadi 

community in Algeria, in Ain Safra, Naama 

province, before trying him before the Ain 

Tedles Court of First Instance for collecting 

donations without a licence, “denigrating 

Islamic dogma”, and “membership of an 

unauthorized association”. By the end of the 

year, he faced six cases pending before 

different courts arising from the peaceful 

practice of his faith.

IMPUNITY

The authorities took no steps to open 

investigations and counter the impunity for 

grave human rights abuses and possible 

crimes against humanity, including unlawful 

killings, enforced disappearances, rape and 

other forms of torture committed by security 

forces and armed groups in the 1990s during 

Algeria’s internal conflict, which left an 

estimated 200,000 people killed or forcibly 

disappeared.

In January, the Swiss judiciary shelved a 

war crimes investigation against retired 

Algerian Minister of Defence Khaled Nezzar 

for events between 1992 and 1994 in 

Algeria, citing inadmissibility due to the 

absence of armed conflict in Algeria at the 

time.

In February, the UN Human Rights 

Committee found that the Algerian authorities 

had violated the right to remedy, the right to 

life, and the prohibition against torture with 

regard to Mohamed Belamrania, who was 

forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially 

executed in 1995. Days after the UN finding 

was published, police detained his son, Rafik 

Belamrania, and charged him with 

“advocating terrorism on Facebook”. He had 

filed his father’s case before the UN body 

and documented other cases of enforced 

disappearance, arbitrary detention and 

extrajudicial executions by Algeria’s security 

forces against suspected supporters of the 

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Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party during the 

1990s. In November he was sentenced to 

five years’ imprisonment and fined 100,000 

Algerian dinars (around USD870).

REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS

From April to June, a group of 25 Syrian 

refugees, including 10 children, were 

stranded in the buffer zone of Morocco’s 

desert border area with Algeria.

4

 In June, the 

Algerian authorities announced they would 

permit them to enter Algeria and would allow 

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to provide 

them with assistance. However, the Algerian 

authorities later refused to let them in 

through an unofficial crossing point. The 

refugees remained stranded in the desert 

until Morocco granted them protection.

Between August and December the 

authorities arbitrary arrested and forcibly 

expelled more than 6,500 sub-Saharan 

African migrants to neighbouring Niger and 

Mali on the basis of racial profiling.

5

In February, a court in Annaba convicted 27 

people, including Algerians, for irregular exit 

from Algeria after they attempted to leave the 

country by boat. They were fined 20,000 

Algerian dinars (about USD180) each.

WORKERS’ RIGHTS

The Labour Code continued to unduly restrict 

the right to form trade unions by limiting 

trade union federations and confederations to 

single occupational sectors; allowing only 

Algerian-born people or those who had held 

Algerian nationality for a minimum of 10 

years to create trade union organizations; and 

imposing restrictions on foreign funding for 

trade unions. Authorities continued to deny 

registration to the independent, cross-sector 

General Autonomous Confederation for 

Algerian Workers, since it first filed its 

application in 2013.

In May, the Ministry of Labour banned the 

National Autonomous Electricity and Gas 

Trade Union by withdrawing its recognition. A 

government official publicly denied the ban 

during an International Labour Conference 

session in June.

DEATH PENALTY

Courts continued to impose death sentences. 

No executions have been carried out since 

1993.

1. Human Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on 

Algeria (

MDE 28/7152/2017

)

2. Algeria: Ensure fair trial for minority rights activists (

News story

, 29 

May)

3. Algeria: Wave of arrests and prosecutions of hundreds of Ahmadis 

(

News story

, 19 June)

4. Morocco: Syrian refugees trapped in desert on Moroccan border with 

Algeria in dire need of assistance (

News story

, 7 June)

5. Algeria: Mass racial profiling used to deport more than 2,000 sub-

Saharan migrants (

News story

, 23 October)

ANGOLA

Republic of Angola

Head of state and government: João Manuel Gonçalves 

Lourenço (replaced José Eduardo dos Santos in 

September)

Agri-business mega projects displaced 

communities from their land. Although the 

restrictive NGO law was repealed, the space 

for individuals to exercise their civil and 

political rights continued to shrink. 

Peaceful protesters were met with violent 

repression; government critics faced 

criminal defamation suits. Attempts by 

Parliament to criminalize abortion in all 

circumstances were defeated.

BACKGROUND

Historic elections were held on 23 August. 

João Lourenço of the ruling People’s 

Movement for the Liberation of Angola 

(MPLA) became President. According to the 

Electoral Commission, the MPLA obtained 

61% of the vote, down from 81% in 2012. 

Opposition parties – National Union for the 

Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), 

Broad Convergence for the Salvation of 

Angola-Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE), and 

National Front for the Liberation of Angola 

(FNLA) − contended that the election results 

were illegitimate, but took their seats in 

Parliament.

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