In a press release released on September 30, the activists expressed their concerns for the future of Algeria, facing a “political crisis” and “restrictions on freedoms”.
Three former members of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS, a radical Islamist party dissolved by the courts in 1992) were arrested by the Algerian authorities, according to the Arabi21 information site citing anonymous sources. Algerian official media did not confirm this information.
Saadi Mabrouk, Ahmed Zaoui, and Ali Benhadjar (spokesperson), all three members of the “Authentic FIS Executives”, an extension of the ex-FIS, had, on September 30, issued a press release in which they were concerned about the “crises” that the country is going through.
In this political declaration, the activists of this organization note “a patent division of society due to the mediocre policies followed until now, as well as a shameless selfishness and limitless greed of the hegemonic ruling elite”.
They also note “the extreme poverty which affects Algerians”, “a policy giving rise to despair, which pushes our youth and our brains to leave the country massively and sometimes permanently”, as well as “an acute political crisis”, “a restriction of freedoms” and “an instability which paralyzes institutions”.
On September 20, Amnesty International called on the Algerian government to “stop repressing rights” and “immediately release imprisoned journalists.”
“Today in Algeria, no one is safe from the clutches of repression if they dare to criticize and express themselves with courage: anyone considered a threat […], finds themselves the target of measures of harassment and intimidation or arbitrary arrest,” denounced the NGO, recalling that for two years, at least twelve journalists and media professionals have been pursued, arrested and placed in detention.
“The scarecrow of terrorism”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) for its part published on September 18 a document detailing “how the authorities dismantled the country’s independent civil society and hindered political pluralism, relying on restrictive laws relating to associations, political parties and to the unions.
“Algerian authorities have wiped out most of the remaining civil liberties that Algerians enjoyed during the period of political liberalization in the late 1980s,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy director of the Middle East and South Africa division. North to HRW.
The leader of the ex-FIS, Ali Belhadj, interviewed by Arabi21, believes that the arrest of the movement’s executives is “unjustified” and calls for “their immediate release”.
Ali Belhadj warns against a return to what he describes as “the scarecrow of terrorism that all tyrants in the Arab and Muslim world adopt to fight terrorism.”
“They [the Arab rulers] want to show that if they are not in power, then the alternative is terrorism. In reality, they mean that they are the guardians of the former colonial powers in order to have legitimacy. This is not only a problem in Algeria, but also in several Arab and Muslim countries.
Deborah Manning, Ahmed Zaoui’s lawyer, told the New Zealand news site Nzherald (Ahmed Zaoui has dual Algerian and New Zealand nationality) that her client was “currently detained in a police station.” “The family are of course very concerned and are working with New Zealand Consular Affairs,” she added.
She also gave details of the arrest: “The house was surrounded by twelve vehicles and eight armed officers wearing balaclavas, who entered the house. They were greeted by Zaoui, who invited them to join the family for tea. They searched the house for weapons. They asked if he [Ahmed Zaoui] had any weapons and he replied ”I only have books”.
“He should be considered a New Zealand citizen in Algeria detained for political reasons,” she stressed.
In their press release, the FIS executives call in particular to unite without exclusion and to put aside differences, to lift the restrictions imposed on political activists, led by Sheikh Ali Belhadj, and to establish appeasement measures in freeing prisoners of conscience from the 1990s and those of the hirak, this vast popular movement has led to the resignation of President Bouteflika.
