Algerian human rights leader calls for banning illegal immigration criminalization

President of the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Farouk Ksentini called Thursday for banning the criminalization of illegal immigration.

• Ksentini will submit a report to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in which he said social reasons are behind the illegal immigration phenomenon and punishment is useless.
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• He believes that authorities should give social solutions and not judicial ones. “Deterrence is useless. My Commission suggested banning prison sentence and replacing it by a symbolic fine. This is very enough.”
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• He believes that it is unbelievable to treat Algeria desert prisoners as terrorists. “A person who was taken to the desert has the right to not be treated as a terrorist,” he told the national radio.
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• “This is legitimate and we wrote that in our report to the president,” he added.
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• He also said the State should repair things. “Those ex-prisoners want to redress moral damage than the physical one.”
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• Speaking about death penalty, Ksentini said debate about that was postponed. “It is a first step. There is a need for a long struggle. It lasted for years in countries which were ahead of us in this topic. The death penalty was finally banned and I respect opposition opinions.”
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• He also said prison is not made for journalists and journalists were not created to be jailed. In case of violations, it is enough to make them paying fines.