The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders on Tuesday urged Algeria to release all jailed human rights activists, citing “ongoing judicial harassment”. After a 10-day visit to the North African country, Mary Lawlor said at a press conference the authorities should “release all human rights defenders imprisoned for the exercise of their freedom of expression, opinion, and association”. Following an official invitation, Lawlor met rights activists, civil society organisations and officials.
The National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD) says dozens of people are still detained in relation to the 2019 pro-democracy Hirak movement that ousted ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and for advocating individual freedoms.
Lawlor told reporters that the same “pattern of violation used to repress” rights defenders “was noted in the various meetings” she had. She denounced “ongoing judicial harassment through multiple criminal cases”, and said most of those she met “have either been imprisoned at least once in their life or were facing criminal charges”.
Lawlor said a commonly cited article in the penal code used against rights activists went as far as accusing them of terrorism, and said it was “broad and vaguely worded”. She also said some activists told her they were not allowed to hold meetings and that their meeting with her was “extraordinary”.
Lawlor said another article in the penal code prohibited defenders of human rights from receiving foreign resources or funding. Some told her they were banned from going abroad, and had limited movement even inside the country. “Multiple human rights defenders informed me that they were not permitted to travel, nor were they given any form of notification of such an order,” she said. “They only discovered that they were banned from travelling when they attempted to leave the country.”
Lawlor urged the government to amend laws relating to terrorism and undermining national unity, and asked the authorities to “embrace human rights defenders as allies who can meaningfully contribute to public life in Algeria”. She also hoped the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH), which the government dissolved earlier this year, would “be able to retake its place among civil society organisations” when a new law on associations is adopted.
