Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Algeria.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Algeria. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Algeria U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/algeria/
[accessed 2 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS There were some
significant reports of mental and physical abuse in detention centers that
raised human rights concerns. Authorities held
some pretrial detainees in prolonged solitary confinement. Authorities held
Karim Tabbou, leader of the unrecognized political party
Union Democratique et Sociale
(UDS), in solitary confinement from his arrest in September 2019 until his
July release. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/algeria/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 14 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Allegations of
torture have decreased since the end of the war, but human rights activists
still accuse the police of using excessive force and abusing detainees. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or download PDF at
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] ALGERIA 2014 saw no overall
improvement in human rights conditions in Algeria despite promises tha the government has made since 2011 to introduce
reforms. Authorities curtailed free speech and the rights to freedom of
association, assembly, and peaceful protest, and arrested and prosecuted
political and trade union activists. Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/12/letter-french-prime-minister-regarding-extradition-mourad-dhina [accessed 15 January
2013] There is ample
evidence of the practice of torture by Algerian security agencies,
particularly of persons under interrogation who are suspected of committing
security offenses, whether in Algeria or while living abroad. Amnesty
International’s report, “Algeria: Unrestrained Powers: Torture by Algeria’s
Military Security,” published on July 9, 2006, states: Torture and other
ill-treatment in Algeria continue to be perpetrated with impunity in cases of
arrests and detentions of individuals who are suspected of terrorist
activities. This report is based on dozens of cases of torture or other
ill-treatment by the DRS (Department for Information and Security, Département du renseignement et
de la sécurité), about which Amnesty International
has received information in recent years. Those arrested come from a wide
range of backgrounds. Some have been detained for alleged involvement with
armed groups in Algeria, others were resident abroad and arrested on
suspicion of involvement in international terrorist networks. The UN Committee
against Torture (CAT), in its concluding observations, dated May 26, 2008, on
Algeria’s report to the committee, voiced concern about continuing reports of
secret detention centers “outside the control of the courts.” AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 The government
lifted the nationwide state of emergency in force since 1992, but maintained
tight restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and on
practising religious beliefs. The security forces
used excessive force in dispersing some demonstrations and in response to
instances of rioting; several people were killed. Detainees remained at risk
of torture and other ill-treatment. COUNTER-TERROR AND
SECURITY
- Those detained as terrorism-related suspects were allegedly tortured and
ill-treated while held by the Department of Information and Security
(military intelligence), and in some cases were
detained incommunicado in what may have amounted to enforced disappearances. On 18 July, Abdelhakim
Chenoui and Malik Medjnoun
were sentenced to 12 years in prison after an apparently unfair trial after
which they were found guilty of murdering Kabyle singer Lounès
Matoub years before. Both had been held without
trial since 1999. Their conviction was based on a “confession” that Abdelhakim Chenoui said he had
been forced to make under duress and which he later retracted. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=algeria+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] ***
EARLY EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human
Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61685.htm [accessed 15 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61685.htm [accessed 2 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Both the
constitution and Legal Code prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment; however, there were reports by AI and
Algeria Watch that government officials employed such practices. Although the Penal
Code prohibited torture, legislation enacted in September 2004 criminalized
torture, and government agents now face prison sentences for up to three
years for committing such acts. Impunity remained a problem (see section
1.d.). According to human
rights lawyers the incidence and severity of torture is on the decline due in
part to better training of the security forces and alternative intelligence
gathering techniques. However, they maintained that torture still occurred in
military prisons, more often against those arrested on "security grounds."
In May, AI reported that the "chiffon" method--stuffing a rag into
someone's mouth while forcing contaminated liquids into the victim's stomach
until he or she vomits, while at the same time making it almost impossible to
breathe--was the preferred method of torture because it left no physical
traces of assault. Seven gendarmes
were in detention in a military prison in Blida awaiting trial on charges of
torture and maltreatment. In May 2004, 24
adolescents were arrested in T'kout following
demonstrations protesting the death of Chouaib Argabi (see section 1.a.). Six of the adolescents told
their lawyer that they had been tortured and sexually abused by the
gendarmerie during their detention. Their attorney, Salah Hanoun,
claimed in the press that he saw physical proof of mistreatment, which
included burns and bruises, and took photographs. During their trial, defense
lawyers raised the issue of torture, but the judge refused to permit any
discussion of the matter. Most of the accused spent at least five months in
prison but received a presidential pardon in 2004. All 24 adolescents have
since been released Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2009 www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/algeria [accessed 15 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] The judiciary is
not independent and is susceptible to government pressure. The human rights
situation remains poor, though there have been significant gains since the
peak of the civil war. International human rights activists have accused the
security forces of practicing torture. In July 2008, Human Rights Watch
demanded that the government reveal the whereabouts of Abderrahmane
Houari and Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily,
who had been repatriated to Algeria earlier that month after spending years
in U.S. custody at the Guantanamo Bay military base. U.S. Library of
Congress - Country Study [dated] Library of Congress
Call Number DT275 .A5771 1994 www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=DT275+.A5771+1994 [accessed 17 July
2017] CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM –
In 1987, reversing its previous policy, the government officially recognized
a human rights group, the Algerian League of Human Rights. Legal status was
subsequently accorded to the Committee Against Torture, which investigated
allegations of government torture, as well as to a number of other human
rights organizations. They have been permitted to lobby, publicize their
findings, and publish reports on the treatment of detainees. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Algeria", http://gvnet.com/torture/ Algeria.htm,
[accessed <date>] |
