Amnesty International Criticizes General Human Rights Situation In Algeria

Amnesty International criticized the human rights situation prevailing in Algeria and noted its “dissatisfaction” with the authorities’ handling of the Ahmadiyya community, while emphasizing the significant level of prosecutions against them. The other point referred to by Amnesty International was the “mass deportations of African migrants to their countries of origin”.

To this effect, Amnesty International cites “arbitrary imprisonment, unjustified restrictions, prosecution of members of a religious minority, impunity for human rights abuses, unfair trials and mass expulsions of migrants” … In its annual report published on Thursday (February 22nd), Amnesty International does not record no improvement in the human rights situation in Algeria.

The NGO said that, this year again, “the authorities arrested and prosecuted peaceful activists, including people protesting against unemployment or public services”.

In the field of freedom of religion and belief, Amnesty International describes the case of the Ahmadiya community. “More than 280 members of the Ahmadi minority religious movement have been prosecuted in connection with their convictions or religious practices during the year,” it said.

In its latest report, the NGO portrays a country that is not welcoming to refugees and migrants. It first advanced the case of Syrian refugees stranded between the borders of Algeria and those of Morocco. “From April to June, a group of 25 Syrian refugees, including 10 children, remained stuck in the buffer zone between the Moroccan desert and Algeria,” it recalled.

“In June, the Algerian authorities announced that they would allow them to enter Algeria and allow the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help them. However, they subsequently refused to allow them to enter via an unofficial crossing point.

Amnesty International also blamed the authorities for arbitrary arrests on the basis of what it called “ethnic profiling”. 

“Between August and December, the authorities carried out, on the basis of ethnic profiling, the arbitrary arrest and forced eviction of more than 6,500 migrants from various countries in sub-Saharan Africa to neighboring states notably to Niger and Mali,” it stated.