Algerian detainee Sentenced to death in Iraq

Abdellah Belhadi Ibn Ahmed, resident in the district of Bab El Ouedi, known as “Kawatine” near a cemetery in Ouled Jarallah, is a thought hardliner or belonging to any Islamist party. He was a normal happy youngster who was born mid-eighties, he loved sports, and stopped studying in secondary school in specialty of “Mechanical Industry at the second level, due to his love for the craft activity, especially farming, as he helped his father Ahmed in the farm of Bamia Ouansa, 25 kilometers from the city of El Ouadi (southern Algeria), his father loved him so much compared to the rest of his brothers.

Echorouk visisted the family of Belhadi on Monday, after the announcement of Abdellah’s death and execution by the Iraqi government. His relatives were confused and nervous due to the lack of accurate information about the incident, especially after watching the video that was aired on some stations, as they did not see Abdellah, which increased their doubts, so they called the police and the security Directorate of the city on Monday morning, and they ordered them to return in the evening in order to get more informations.

Abdallah Belhadi, according to the statements of his family, said in 2004 that he intended to join the jihad in Iraq, against the Americans, but his family members thought he was joking, because he was young and did not exceed 20 years, and has no background of violence or religious extremism, but one day in the same year he decided to go to the capital to repair his mobile phone, then he flew to Syria in the same year and then to Baghdad, before they heared the news from the National Gendarmerie, which informed them that their son went to Iraq, noting that he used to watch some videos that show human rights violations in Iraq, and the rape of Iraqi women in particular, which effected his psychological state, and he decided to avenge.

Abdallah moved to Iraq with his friend Salaheddin Damon, who died in one of the armed clashes in Iraq in 2006, and he was arrested for two months and released, before being arrested again in 2010 after the last phone conversation with his family from Iraq in June 2010.

He told them that he was fighting with his brothers in Iraq against the Americans, and that he wished to live a moment of the liberation of Iraq from U.S. forces, then assured them that he did not regret joining Jihad in Iraq, describing the situation as contemptible due to the ugly human rights violations, but asseted that Iraqi Brothers will fight until liberation or martyrdom, hoping everyday to die in for Allah.

Family members who spoke collectively to Echorouk on Monday, at the residence of the family in the neighborhood, all agreed that their son died as a martyr and did not grieve him, but they called upon the President Bouteflika to intervene to confirm or deny the news, or if he was executed actually they ask for deporting the corpse. They also appealed human rights organizations to contribute to that.

Four other Algerians from the neighborhood of Asahyine inthe municipality of Tarfaoui in El Ouadi (southern Algeria), are still in Iraq to fight against the U.S. forces, including two detainees in Baghdad who contacted recently their relatives in Aid Al Fitr to check on them , as the fate of the others remain unknown.