A United Nations rapporteur called on Algerian authorities on Tuesday to release all imprisoned human rights defenders following a visit to the country.
Mary Lawlor
A United Nations rapporteur called on Algerian authorities on Tuesday to release all imprisoned human rights defenders following a visit to the country.
During a press conference in Algiers, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, urged the Algerian government to "release all human rights defenders imprisoned for exercising their freedom of expression, opinion, and association."
According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), dozens of people, associated with the pro-democracy Hirak movement or the defense of individual freedoms, are still imprisoned in Algeria.
Ms. Lawlor stated that she observed, through the interviews conducted during her visit, "patterns of violations used to suppress" human rights defenders, citing notably "judicial harassment (...) through multiple criminal prosecutions." "The currently enforced legislation is used to restrict and penalize the work of human rights defenders," lamented Ms. Lawlor, noting the use of a provision in the penal code related to terrorism issues to "repress" these activists.
According to her, "the definition of terrorism in this article is so vague and broad that it gives the security services a wide margin to arrest human rights defenders." Ms. Lawlor also deplored the fact that human rights defenders are "prohibited" from accessing financial resources from abroad, under the threat of imprisonment, a restriction that, according to her, "aggravates" their "isolation."
Ms. Lawlor also raised concerns about "the limitation of freedom of movement" for human rights defenders and the fact that many of them are prohibited from leaving the national territory. During her ten-day stay in Algeria, Ms. Lawlor met with around fifty human rights defenders, journalists, and Algerian officials.
In her press conference, Ms. Lawlor expressed hope that the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), dissolved by the authorities earlier in the year, could "resume its place among civil society organizations" with the enactment of a new law on associations.
She also deemed the dissolution of another prominent NGO, the Rally for Youth Actions (RAJ), as "an overly severe sanction."
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