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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
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
73
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.