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(Beirut) – Algerian authorities have imposed arbitrary journey bans on not less than three activists from the Algerian diaspora, Amnesty Worldwide and Human Rights Watch stated right this moment. Though one of many three was lastly permitted to depart on Could 5, 2022, after being blocked for 3 months, the authorities ought to instantly elevate the bans on the opposite two.
Between January and April 2022, the authorities have prevented not less than three Algerian-Canadian residents, solely one in every of whom has been charged, from returning to their properties in Canada and interrogated them about their hyperlinks to the Hirak, a mass protest motion calling for political change. Lazhar Zouaimia, Hadjira Belkacem, and a 3rd one that requested to not be named for safety causes, stated that they’d not been notified of any authorized foundation for the journey restrictions, making them troublesome to problem in courtroom. The journey bans are the newest tactic in a crackdown on Algerians suspected of criticizing the federal government or collaborating in protests.
“It’s appalling that the Algerian authorities are stopping activists from going again to their nation of residence, with out even offering a authorized foundation for this refusal or a written justification,” stated Amna Guellali, deputy Center East and North Africa director at Amnesty Worldwide. “All arbitrary journey bans ought to instantly be lifted.”
On February 19 and once more on April 9, border police prevented Lazhar Zouaimia, 56, a member of Amnesty Worldwide in Canada who works as a technician at a public electrical energy utility in Quebec, from boarding a airplane to Montreal.
In his April try at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, Zouaimia was accompanied by two representatives from the Canadian embassy and his lawyer. An Algerian legislation enforcement officer took Zouaimia apart and saved him in an workplace on the airport for hours, then launched him. The authorities additionally blocked Zouaimia from boarding one other flight the identical day to Barcelona.
After Zouamia’s earlier try to depart Algeria in February, a courtroom initially charged him with terrorism and later modified the cost to “harming the integrity of the nationwide territory,” a imprecise accusation that authorities have used extensively to punish peaceable Hirak activists. He spent 5 weeks in detention earlier than a courtroom provisionally launched him pending his trial.
Considered one of Zouaimia’s legal professionals, Abdel Halim Khairedine, stated {that a} clerk on the Court docket of Constantine, the place Zouaimia is being prosecuted, knowledgeable Khairedine that the courtroom had imposed no journey restrictions on his consumer.
The notification of launch for Zouaimia from the Common Directorate of the Administration of Prisons and Rehabilitation, reviewed by Amnesty Worldwide, doesn’t point out that he’s subjected to a court-ordered journey ban.
One other of Zouaimia’s legal professionals filed a request with the Common Prosecutor’s Workplace of the Court docket of Algiers on April 13 to verify whether or not one other courtroom had imposed a journey ban on him however had acquired no reply as of April 29.
When Zouaimia tried to depart in February, legislation enforcement officers in civilian garments detained him at Constantine airport. An officer from the judicial police on the airport advised Zouaimia handy over his cellphone, with out displaying him an order from the prosecutor. Zouaimia gave the officer his cellphone, which was not password protected.
Police then transferred Zouaimia to the army barracks in Constantine. They questioned him about his participation in Montreal within the Hirak protest motion and his alleged connections with the Motion for the Self-determination of Kabylie (MAK) and Rachad, an opposition political motion. The authorities have used broadly worded terrorism-related prices to criminalize the actions of those two political organizations by designating them “terrorists.”
On February 22, a choose within the Court docket of Constantine ordered Zouaimia’s pretrial detention on prices of praising and funding a terrorist group, below article 87 bis of the penal code. Zouaimia was provisionally launched on March 30. On April 6, a choose in the identical courtroom modified the accusation to “harming the integrity of the nationwide territory” below article 79 of the penal code. His trial is scheduled for Could 31. The authorities haven’t returned his cellphone.
Zouaimia was lastly in a position to go away Algeria to return to Canada on Could 5.
In one other case, Hadjira Belkacem, 52, traveled to Algeria on January 19. On February 25, the border police on the Houari Boumediene Airport prevented her from leaving the nation for Montreal. Belkacem advised Human Rights Watch that she has not taken half within the Hirak however is named an activist amongst Algerians dwelling in Montreal. Regulation enforcement officers in civilian garments on the airport interrogated her and held her for a number of hours.
Belkacem was then transferred to the headquarters of the Nationwide Police in Algiers to be questioned once more. Cops there requested about her alleged connections to the Hirak protest motion and to Rachad, and in regards to the Affiliation of Muslim Burial in Quebec (l’Affiliation de la Sépulture musulmane au Québec), a charity that she based in Canada. They launched her at 2:30 a.m. the next day, she advised Human Rights Watch.
Belkacem employed a lawyer, who discovered no prices pending in opposition to her. He contacted the prosecutor of the Dar Beida courtroom in Algiers to ask in regards to the journey ban, however has not acquired a solution, she stated on Could 3.
Belkacem has been dwelling in Canada together with her household for 16 years and works as a childcare educator.
On February 10, border police on the Algiers airport prevented a 3rd individual, who requested to not be recognized, from boarding a airplane. He was transferred to a police station in Algiers, the place he was interrogated within the workplace of the counterterrorism unit about his household, his private relationships, and if he had collected cash to help the Hirak. The police then launched him with out telling him that there have been any prices in opposition to him.
On March 24, in response to a request filed by his lawyer, the primary occasion tribunal of the japanese metropolis of Setif issued a discover, reviewed by Amnesty Worldwide, confirming that no formal ban to depart the nationwide territory had been issued in opposition to him. He’s awaiting extra data from his lawyer earlier than he makes an attempt to depart the nation once more.
Regulation enforcement officers in civilian garments had beforehand arrested him on January 28 together with his brother on a avenue in Setif. The officers took the boys to an unknown location, the place safety service officers interrogated him for a couple of hours in regards to the Hirak, his private funds, and the explanations he was protesting for political change in Algeria. The 2 males have been launched later that day, however he was summoned for questioning to the central police station of Setif once more on January 29 and 30.
“The Algerian authorities are utilizing arbitrary journey bans as a method to stress diaspora activists in Canada and elsewhere,” stated Eric Goldstein, deputy Center East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These unjustified measures put diaspora Algerians who go residence to go to in a precarious scenario with no clear authorized treatments.”
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