Algerian regime accused of taking advantage of health crisis to intimidate activists

Algerian students demonstrate on February 18, 2020 in Algiers, the capital, a few days before the first anniversary of the "Hirak" movement. RYAD KRAMDI / AFP

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In Algeria, activists and civil society organizations denounce an increasing number of arrests and convictions of people close to Hirak, this protest movement born in February 2019. Activists accuse the power of wanting to intimidate the demonstrators before a possible resumption of Hirak.

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Algerian protesters have been questioning for some time about the opportune moment to resume demonstrations against the regime, interrupted due to the health situation. Since mid-March, in fact, any type of gathering has been banned in Algeria as part of measures to combat the coronavirus. On Tuesday June 23, five people were sentenced to 6 months to one year in prison in Tizi Ouzou for participating in a demonstration last Friday. Nine others were released.

Even if some marches have been organized in different Algerian cities, and notably in Kabylia, several political parties, associations and lawyers have recently called for patience.

Activist Amira Bouraoui sentenced

Despite this health truce, the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights has counted dozens of arrests since the start of confinement in March. The figures of Hirak , journalists and bloggers arrested for their publications on social networks.

Activist Amira Bouraoui, known for opposing Abdelaziz Bouteflika's fourth term in 2014, was sentenced to one year in prison on Sunday, notably for insulting the President of the Republic. A week earlier, several figures from the current movement were arrested in Algiers, including Hakim Addad, one of the founders of RAJ, an organization very involved in Hirak . He has since been released and placed under judicial supervision.

Amira Bouraoui has no place in prison. Between those who by radicalism or selfishness or naivety took hostage on February 22, and those, opposite, who confuse stabilization and drift, she remains a woman of sincere passion for her country. A person of good faith.

  Kamel DAOUD (@daoud_kamel) June 18, 2020

Civil society organizations and activists accuse the Algerian authorities of taking advantage of the health crisis to accentuate the repression, and to try to prevent a resumption of the weekly demonstrations.

With containment, the government is trying to attack those who could help take over from the protest movement

Isabelle Werenfels, Maghreb specialist, researcher at the German Institute for International Affairs

Magali Lagrange

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  • Algeria
  • Coronavirus
  • Human rights
  • Society