(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

Thousands of civilians, including hundreds of women and children, were killed in large-scale massacres committed in rural areas by armed groups. Thousands of people were killed by the security forces and state-armed militias; hundreds were reportedly extrajudicially executed. Hundreds of civilians were killed by armed groups which define themselves as "Islamic groups". Thousands of people, including prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, were detained during the year; hundreds were charged under the "anti-terrorist" law. Thousands of people arrested in previous years were imprisoned after unfair trials. Scores of others continued to be held without trial. Torture and ill-treatment continued to be widespread, especially during unacknowledged detention, and ill-treatment was reported in prisons. Several hundred people who "disappeared" after arrest by the security forces remained unaccounted for. Scores of people were abducted by armed groups. Scores of death sentences were imposed, most of them in absentia, and more than 600 people were under sentence of death at the end of the year. No judicial executions were reported.

Legislative and local elections were held in June and October, respectively. The Rassemblement national démocratique (rnd), National Democratic Rally, created in February by supporters of President Liamine Zeroual, took a lead in both elections. Opposition parties complained of widespread electoral fraud. In January Prime Minister 'Ahmed Ouyahia signed an executive decree legalizing the militias armed by the state, which had been in existence since 1994, and setting out a framework for their activities. The decree fell short of international standards governing the conduct of law enforcement officials, and did not provide essential safeguards contained in human rights standards, ratified by Algeria, designed to ensure both that militia members respect and protect human rights and that complaints of human rights abuses by militia members are adequately investigated. In practice militias routinely overstepped their self-defence mandate and carried out, or participated in, "anti-terrorist" offensive operations.

The state of emergency imposed in 1992 (see previous Amnesty International Reports) remained in place.

The UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions were not allowed to visit the country

The escalating political conflict resulted in some of the worst violence since the crisis began in 1992. Responsibility for individual human rights abuses was often difficult to verify, as security forces, militias armed by the state and armed groups defining themselves as "Islamic groups" often adopted similar patterns of conduct. Government restrictions on the news media and on the activities of human rights organizations, intimidation by the authorities of those trying to gather or communicate information about human rights abuses, and death threats against journalists by armed groups, severely restricted reporting of human rights abuses

At least 2,000 civilians, including hundreds of women and children, were killed in large-scale massacres by armed groups in rural areas. The victims were slaughtered, decapitated, mutilated, shot, or burned alive in their homes. Most of the massacres took place near the capital, Algiers, and in the Blida and Medea regions, in the most heavily militarized part of the country. Often massacres were committed in villages situated close to army barracks and security forces posts, and in some cases survivors reported that army and security forces units were stationed nearby. The killings often lasted several hours, but the army and security forces failed to intervene to stop the massacres and allowed the attackers to leave undisturbed

In August up to 300 people were killed in one night in Rais, south of Algiers. In September some 200 people were slaughtered in one night in Bentalha, also south of Algiers. Many of the victims were women, children and elderly people. Both villages were located near military barracks and security forces posts, but there was no intervention to stop the massacres.

The authorities blamed all the massacres on "terrorist groups", but there were allegations that some of the massacres had been committed by armed groups acting on instructions, or with the consent, of certain army and security forces units and paramilitary groups. No one was known to have been brought to justice for the massacres by the end of the year.

Thousands of people were killed by the security forces. Many were reportedly killed in military or security operations and in armed combat, although in the absence of independent sources it was not possible to establish the number or identity of those killed nor the circumstances of the killings. Hundreds were believed to have been extrajudicially executed when they posed no threat to the security forces and could have been arrested. Victims reportedly included people suspected of cooperating with armed groups, and extrajudicial executions often appeared to be used as an alternative to arresting and prosecuting known or suspected members or sympathizers of armed groups. For example, Rachid Medjahed, a former town council representative for the banned Front islamique du salut (fis), Islamic Salvation Front, was arrested during an "anti-terrorist" raid in the capital, Algiers, in February and held in secret detention. His family only learned of his arrest when he appeared on television 10 days later and confessed to being the leader of the armed group responsible for the killing in January of ‘Abdelhak Benhammouda, leader of the Union générale des travailleurs algériens, General Union of Algerian Workers. In April Rachid Medjahed's body was found, riddled with bullets, in a hospital in Blida. The authorities denied his death until May, when they said that he had died in February of bullet wounds sustained at the time of his arrest. However, when he appeared on television after his arrest he did not appear to be injured. No investigation was known to have been initiated into his death.

There were widespread reports of human rights abuses by militias armed by the state, which are known as "groupes d'autodéfense" ("self-defence groups") or "patriotes" ("patriots"). Militias were increasingly involved in military operations, and in some areas they had virtually replaced the security forces, organizing or participating in ambushes and "anti-terrorist" offensive military operations.

Armed groups which defined themselves as "Islamic groups" deliberately and arbitrarily killed hundreds of civilians and non-combatants. Some of the female victims were abducted and raped before being killed. In October, 16 children were killed on their way to school when the bus in which they were travelling came under machine-gun fire on the way from Sidi Selhane to Bouinan.

Scores of civilians were killed in bomb attacks by armed groups. In June some 20 people were killed and about 100 injured in three bomb explosions in public places near the capital in the space of three days.

Thousands of people, including prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, were detained during the year. Many were charged with "security" offences while others were released without charge after periods of detention ranging from a few days to a few months.

Thousands of political detainees, including prisoners of conscience, arrested in previous years were sentenced to prison terms following unfair trials. Courts routinely ignored allegations by defendants that their confessions had been extracted under torture. In July prisoner of conscience Rachid Mesli, a human rights lawyer, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment following a trial which violated international fair trial standards. Rachid Mesli was found not guilty of the charges on which he was tried, but guilty of having "encouraged terrorism", even though this charge had not been brought against him during the trial and he had not had an opportunity to defend himself. The court also failed to investigate the abduction of Rachid Mesli in July 1996 and his allegations of ill-treatment during incommunicado detention (see Amnesty International Report 1997). The trial took place in camera. He petitioned the Supreme Court for review through the "cassation" procedure, which only looks at procedures and does not re-examine the facts of the case, and therefore does not constitute a full judicial appeal

Although scores of political detainees arrested in previous years continued to be held without trial, a few were tried during the year. Nadir Hammoudi, an engineer detained since October 1992, was tried and acquitted in April but remained detained in connection with another case. ‘Ali Zouita, a lawyer detained since February 1993, was tried on "terrorism" charges, acquitted and released. ‘Abdelkader Hachani, a leading fis figure detained since January 1992, was tried and sentenced to five years' imprisonment for a communique he had published in an Algerian newspaper in 1992. He was released immediately as he had already spent more than five years in detention (see previous Amnesty International Reports)

Prolonged incommunicado detention, well beyond the 12-day legal limit, was routine. Detainees were frequently held in unacknowledged detention for weeks or months. In July Messa‘oud Ouziala, a kidney transplant surgeon, was abducted outside the Mustapha Hospital in Algiers. He was held in unacknowledged detention for two weeks and then released.

Torture and ill-treatment continued to be widespread, especially during unacknowledged detention. Methods included: the "chiffon" (tying the detainee in a horizontal position and pouring large quantities of dirty water and chemicals into the mouth, which is stuffed with a cloth, causing choking and swelling of the stomach); electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body; tying a rope around the detainee's penis and/or testicles, causing swelling of the genitals; suspension in contorted pos-itions; cigarette burns; and beatings. For example, a 64-year-old woman arrested in May with two of her sons was reportedly partially undressed and beaten with a rubber hose and one of her sons was given electric shocks. Beatings and other ill-treatment were reported in several prisons. To date no judicial investigation is known to have been carried out into allegations of torture or ill-treatment.

Dozens of people "disappeared" after being arrested by the security forces and hundreds of people arrested in previous years remained unaccounted for. ‘Aziz Bou‘abdallah, a journalist with the Arabic-language newspaper El-‘Alam El-Siyasi, was abducted from his home in April by three men who identified themselves as members of the security forces. He remained "disappeared" at the end of the year. Sa‘ida Kherroubi was detained by security forces in Algiers in May when she went to bring food for her detained mother, and "disappeared" in unacknow-ledged detention for more than five months. She was then transferred to a prison and charged with having links with armed groups.

Some of the "disappeared" were reported to have died under torture or to have been killed in custody. The authorities denied that some of the "disappeared" had ever been arrested and claimed that others were killed by the security forces in combat, or while attempting to escape, and that some had been killed by "terrorist" groups. However, the authorities failed to provide any information to substantiate these claims. ‘Allaoua Ziou, Djamaleddine Fahassi, Mohamed Rosli, Brahim Cherrada, Mohamed Chergui, Yamine ‘Ali Kebaili, and 13 others who "disappeared" after their arrests in 1993, 1994 and 1995 remained unaccounted for. ‘Ali Belhadj, a fis leader arrested in 1991 and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in 1992, who "disappeared" in mid-1995 remained detained in a secret location (see Amnesty International Report 1997).

No further information could be obtained about Fou‘ad Bouchelaghem, who had been arrested in June 1994 and reportedly shot dead by the security forces in detention (see Amnesty International Report 1997)

Scores of death sentences were imposed during the year, most of them in absentia, and more than 600 people were under sentence of death at the end of the year. In March the death sentence passed on Lembarek Bouma‘arafi in June 1995 was upheld by the Supreme Court. He had been convicted of the murder in 1992 of President Mohamed Boudiaf in a trial which fell short of international standards for fair trial. He was detained in Blida Military Prison pending the outcome of his plea for clemency to the President. The moratorium on executions announced in December 1993 remained in force and no judicial executions were reported during the year.

In October Amnesty International and three other international non-governmental organizations – the International Federation of Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Sans Frontières – issued a joint appeal calling for a special session of the UN Commission on Human Rights to set up an international investigation into the human rights situation in Algeria (see Work with International Organizations).

In November Amnesty International issued a report, Algeria: Civilian population caught in a spiral of violence. The organization called for an international investigation to be set up to establish the facts concerning human rights abuses, examine responsibility for the violations and put forward a long-term plan to end the human rights crisis. Amnesty International condemned the massacres of civilians and other abuses and called on all parties in the conflict to stop targeting civilians. The UN Children's Fund (unicef) supported the call for an international investigation.

In most instances the government failed to respond on individual cases raised by Amnesty International. The organization was refused access to Algeria throughout the year.

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