A united appeal was launched on Saturday by some 300 personalities, activists, and NGOs to denounce the “security and judicial offensive” of power against the Algerian people. Two years after the start of the protest movement, the signatories of this appeal demand in particular the release of political prisoners and the reestablishment of “constitutional freedoms”.
Nearly 300 personalities, activists, and NGOs launched a united appeal for an end to “the war declared against the Algerian people” by the regime on Saturday, May 1, in a statement released by sites close to the Hirak protest movement.
This declaration denounces “the security and judicial offensive” of the power which is “taking the form of an open war against the Algerian people”.
The signatories demand the release of political prisoners, the end of legal proceedings against political opponents and Hirak activists, as well as the restoration of “constitutional freedoms”.
“Torture is becoming commonplace again. Police violence is spreading. Nothing can justify a government treating the citizens of its country with such brutality”, they accuse.
Supporters of the call include NGOs such as the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH) and the Algerian Collective against Torture and Prison Conditions (CACTCCI), political parties, academics, lawyers, journalists, actors of the associative world, intellectuals, ordinary citizens as well as members of the diaspora.
End to the declared war against the Algerian people. The Algerians have suffered for several weeks one of the worst …
Posted by LADDH Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights on Saturday, May 1, 2021.
Repression intensifies before the elections
Entitled “Stop the declared war against the Algerian people”, the petition – “born in a hurry” – calls out “national and international opinion” on the “disastrous” consequences that could engender “the escalation of the repression initiated in this month of April “.
She warns against “the criminalization of the Hirak” which “risks leading to a slope towards state crimes”.
As the legislative elections called for next June approach, repression is increasing in Algeria, according to human rights organizations.
On Friday, the police unceremoniously dispersed the weekly Hirak march in Algiers and carried out numerous arrests.
“Climate of tranquility”
The regime appears determined to pursue its electoral “road map” without taking into account the demands of the street – rule of law, democratic transition, independent justice – and the non-participation of the main opposition parties.
In his May 1 message, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune spoke of “a vital issue that the Algerian people will take up” in “a climate of tranquility and confidence in the future”.
According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), more than 70 people are currently imprisoned, prosecuted for acts related to Hirak and/or individual freedoms.
Born in February 2019 from the massive rejection of a fifth term of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, helpless and reclusive, the Hirak calls for a radical change in the political “system” in place since the country’s independence in 1962.
