Amnesty International Report 2005 - Algeria

Covering events from January - December 2004

Despite a scaling down of the internal conflict that has raged since 1992, dozens of civilians were killed. Impunity continued to be a key obstacle to addressing the legacy of the conflict. Tens of thousands of cases of killings, abductions, "disappearances" and torture committed by security forces, state-armed militias and armed groups remained without investigation. Torture continued to be reported, particularly during secret detention. Freedom of expression and assembly was markedly restricted. Human rights activists and journalists risked arrest and imprisonment. The state of emergency imposed in 1992 remained in place. Dozens of suspected members of armed groups were sentenced to death in their absence. A moratorium on executions remained in place.

Background

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected in April. According to official figures he won nearly 85 per cent of the votes cast.

In August, General Mohamed Lamari resigned as chief of staff of the army. He had been a key figure in command while the armed forces were committing wide-ranging human rights violations in the context of the internal conflict, including torture, extrajudicial executions and "disappearances".

Amari Saïfi, also known as Abderrezak El Para, was extradited to Algeria from Libya. He was accused of having led an armed group that abducted 32 European tourists in the Algerian Sahara in 2003. He had been captured in Chad and subsequently handed over to Libya.

Demonstrations, strikes and protests remained widespread. People protested over a range of social, economic and political issues, including water, job and housing shortages, public mismanagement and corruption. Water reportedly reached households in the capital, Algiers, only one day out of three. According to official figures one third of the adult population was unemployed.

Killings

According to press reports, some 500 people were killed during the year. The majority were members of the security forces and armed groups. Some of the deaths reportedly occurred during armed confrontations. In other cases suspected armed group members were reportedly killed in operations by the security forces. There were concerns that some of these were extrajudicial executions. Dozens of civilians were killed in attacks, presumed to have been committed by armed groups but not known to have been independently and impartially investigated.

Impunity

In November, President Bouteflika announced plans for a general amnesty in a stated effort to turn the page on more than a decade of conflict. Although no details were provided, statements indicated that the proposal was to grant exemption from prosecution to security forces, state-armed militias and armed groups, thus preventing members of any party to the conflict being prosecuted for human rights abuses.

No full, independent or impartial investigations were carried out into the gross human rights buses committed since 1992, including thousands of cases of civilians killed in targeted or indiscriminate attacks, extrajudicial executions, torture, ill-treatment and "disappearances". Members of armed groups who surrendered to the authorities reportedly continued to benefit from clemency or exemption from prosecution. The authorities again denied that state agents had been responsible for systematic and widespread human rights violations. The remains of victims of killings discovered in mass graves were generally not identified, and the available evidence was not used to establish responsibility for the killings.

• In January human remains were exhumed from a mass grave in the western province of Relizane in an apparent attempt to conceal or destroy evidence of human rights abuses. between 1993 and 1998 over 200 civilians "disappeared" in the region at the hands of a state-armed militia. The site had been discovered in November 2003 by a local human rights activist who also collected evidence indicating that it contained the remains of some of the "disappeared". The authorities failed to prevent the apparent destruction of evidence and no investigation into the incident was known to have been opened by the end of 2004.

• Fouad Boulemia, a former member of an armed group, was sentenced to death in August after being convicted of the killing of hundreds of civilians in bentalha near Algiers in 1997, an incident which had not been fully and independently investigated. Eyewitness accounts suggested that the armed group that carried out the killings had operated in conjunction with, or with the consent of, certain army and security forces units. Fouad Boulemia had been detained since 1999 and sentenced to death in 2001 for the killing of Abdelkader Hachani, a leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front. At the time of the 2001 trial he claimed he had been tortured and threatened with death during his detention. The allegations were not known to have been investigated by the court.

In November, the Permanent People's Tribunal – an international panel of experts set up to examine human rights issues in the absence of formal commissions of inquiry – met in Paris to examine evidence on human rights abuses committed in Algeria since 1992. Written evidence was submitted by a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activists. The tribunal heard from over a dozen experts and victims of human rights abuses. In its concluding observations the tribunal underscored the importance of truth and justice for lasting peace and called on the government to allow access to UN human rights mechanisms.

'Disappearances'

No concrete steps were taken to establish the fate or whereabouts of thousands of people who "disappeared" between 1992 and 2003, or to allay the suffering of their families, many of whom continued to endure economic hardship. In August and September, many families of the "disappeared" were summoned by a special commission – commonly referred to as the ad hoc mechanism – set up by presidential decree in September 2003 to serve as an interface between the families and the authorities. The families were asked whether they would accept compensation payments for the "disappearance" of their relatives. They were not given any indication of how compensation payments would be allocated, nor of the amount of money that might be paid. The commission is not bound by the results of the consultation and it does not report publicly on the outcome or the methods used. Organizations working on behalf of the "disappeared" publicly protested against the lack of transparency. The commission's mandate does not empower it to view information held in the archives of the security forces.

Complaints filed in Algerian courts for abduction and illegal detention were not followed up. The authorities continued to deny that state agents had been responsible for a pattern of "disappearances". The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances expressed its "deep concern that there have been no clarifications of the more than 1,100 outstanding cases" which it had transmitted to the government.

Torture

Amendments to the Penal Code introduced a specific crime of torture, carrying severe penalties. However, allegations of torture were generally not investigated by the authorities. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture reported that the Algerian authorities had denied without investigation all allegations of torture submitted to them. The Special Rapporteur was unable to visit Algeria, despite his long-standing request to the authorities, reiterated in 2003.

There were concerns that secret detentions, which continued in violation of national and international law, facilitated torture. Allegations of torture continued to be reported, particularly in cases involving what the government described as "terrorist" activities.

• In June, brothers Toufik and Smail Touati were arrested in Algiers within three days of each other by Military Security officers and held in secret detention for 13 and 10 days respectively. They alleged that they were tortured while they were being interrogated. They were charged with belonging to a "terrorist" organization. The allegations of torture were not known to have been investigated.

Freedom of expression and assembly

Human rights defenders, journalists and others who criticized representatives of the state were at risk of arrest and imprisonment.

There was a sharp increase in the number of cases brought against journalists and newspaper editors in an apparent attempt by the government to discourage unfavourable coverage in the privately owned press. Many were defamation cases filed against individual journalists for reporting allegations of corruption or publicly criticizing representatives of the state and security forces. Some were imprisoned, others were given suspended sentences or were sentenced and remained at liberty pending the result of an appeal. Several newspapers were suspended indefinitely, officially for owing money to state-run printing firms. In June the authorities indefinitely suspended the activities of the Algiers office of the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, apparently in response to critical reporting. Neither Al-Jazeera nor any of the newspapers was operating again before the end of 2004.

Anti-government protests were widespread, including in the predominantly Amazigh (Berber) region of Kabylia. Several led to violent clashes between security forces and protesters who voiced their anger about public mismanagement, price rises, and lack of housing and access to basic services. Two demonstrations by families of the "disappeared" in Constantine and Algiers were forcibly prevented by the security forces. A ban on demonstrations in Algiers, in force since October 2001, remained in place.

Dozens of people were arrested for organizing anti-government meetings and protest activities. Political dissent was particularly repressed in the southern provinces of Djelfa, Laghouat and Ouargla, where scores of people were sentenced to prison terms of up to eight months for membership of unauthorised organizations. The UN Special Representative on human rights defenders remained concerned at the restrictions on freedom of assembly imposed on human rights defenders.

• Hafnaoui Ghoul, a human rights activist, journalist and spokesperson of an unofficial political group, the Movement of Citizens of the South, was arrested in May in the province of Djelfa. He was subsequently sentenced to a total of eight months' imprisonment in a series of court cases, the majority of which were defamation cases filed by local officials after he reported allegations of torture, public mismanagement and corruption. In October he was acquitted of membership of an unauthorized organization, but nine other defendants in the same trial were sentenced to between six and eight months' imprisonment. He was released in November following a national and international campaign.

Women's rights

Women continued to be subjected to discrimination in law and practice. Twenty years after the introduction of the discriminatory Family Code, women's organizations reinforced their campaigning activities for women's legal equality. A government-appointed commission proposed amendments to the Family Code, but these had not been adopted by the end of 2004. Proposed changes included the abolition of certain provisions – such as women requiring a "marital tutor" (a male relative) to conclude their marriage contract on their behalf – but fell far short of ensuring women's equality before the law. The proposed changes did not affect discriminatory divorce laws. The authorities did not act with due diligence to prevent, punish and redress acts of sexual violence against women or violence against women in the family. An amendment to the Penal Code made sexual harassment by people in positions of authority a crime punishable by up to one year's imprisonment, or two years in the event of a second offence.

AI visits

AI was not given access to Algeria during 2004.