AI REPORT 1997: ALGERIA

     A conference aimed at solving the political crisis was convened by President Liamine Zeroual in September. It was boycotted by some of the main political opposition parties. The Front islamique du salut (fis), Islamic Salvation Front, which had been included in similar initiatives in previous years, was excluded.

     A new Constitution, which gave increased powers to the President, was passed by referendum in November. The official results of the referendum were disputed by the majority of the opposition parties, the news media and other observers. Legislative and local elections were announced for 1997.

    The state of emergency imposed in 1992 (see Amnesty International Report 1993) remained in place, but the curfew, which had been in place in various provinces, was lifted in February.

    Responsibility for individual killings and attacks was increasingly difficult to establish as the patterns of conduct of the security forces, government-backed militias and armed opposition groups were often similar. The security forces often operated in plain clothes, used ordinary cars and refused to show arrest warrants or identify themselves, while armed opposition groups at times wore uniforms and posed as members of the security forces.

    In November, the un Committee against Torture considered Algeria's first periodic report and expressed concern at allegations of increased torture, extrajudicial executions and "disappearances". The Committee also recommended that the un Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment be published in the Algerian official gazette.

     Thousands of people were killed by the security forces. Many were killed in armed confrontations, but hundreds were extrajudicially executed when they posed no threat to the lives of members of the security forces. Some were killed in their homes, in front of their families, or in detention. Extrajudicial executions were reportedly often used as an alternative to arrest. According to eye-witnesses and to members of the army, security forces, and government-backed militias, individuals known or suspected of belonging to, or having links with, armed opposition groups were often extrajudicially executed after they were captured or when they could have been arrested. Victims of extrajudicial executions reportedly included civilians, relatives of members of armed opposition groups and others who were suspected of having cooperated with these groups, either willingly or under threat. Government-backed militias, which defined themselves as "groupes d'autodéfense" ("self-defence groups"), or "patriotes" ("patriots"), were increasingly involved in counter-insurgency and security operations, either acting on their own initiative or in conjunction with the army and security forces, and were responsible for widespread deliberate and arbitrary killings. Such groups received arms and ammunition from the army and security forces, but did not appear to be subject to any chain-of-command control or accountability to the authorities.

     Four young men _ Khelifa and Benyoucef Bokreta, Benyoucef Belhadj-Bouchaib and 'Adelkader Gouasmi _ were reportedly extrajudicially executed outside their homes in January in Dawadji, Djelida area, in the province of 'Ain-Defla by gardes communaux (communal guards).

     Boumedienne Ould-Sa'adi, a 16-year-old high-school student, was reportedly extrajudicially executed in January after being arrested by security forces at his school in Algiers. His family later found his bullet-ridden body in the morgue; they had not been informed of his death.

     In May, four brothers and their 84-year-old father were killed, reportedly by members of the security forces, in their home in the suburbs of Algiers in front of their mother, wives and sister. The family reported that they were asked by the security forces to sign a declaration stating that their relatives had been killed by "terrorists".

     Scores of civilians were reportedly killed in bombings and heavy artillery attacks by the security forces on houses and villages where armed opposition groups were believed to be hiding. In February, several civilians were reportedly killed in Laghouat when the security forces attacked an area of the city where armed groups, who had taken civilian hostages, were hiding.     Armed opposition groups, which defined themselves as "Islamic groups", deliberately and arbitrarily killed hundreds of civilians and non-combatants. Many of the victims were killed in targeted attacks, including civil servants, journalists, employees of state companies, teachers and artists. Scores of others died in indiscriminate attacks such as bomb explosions.

     In May, Boubekeur Bellik, president of the Algiers Délégation exécutive communale (Communal Executive Delegation), a body appointed to replace elected mayors after the fis was banned in 1992, and Ahmed Tayeb, head clerk, were shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

     In some cases, armed opposition groups abducted civilians before killing them. In September, the singer Boudjem'a Bechiri, known as "Cheb 'Aziz", was found dead in Constantine two days after being abducted by an armed group.

     Foreign nationals, including members of the Christian religious community, continued to be targeted by armed groups. Seven French Trappist monks, one of whom was 82 years old, abducted in March from a monastery in the Medea region, were found dead in May. The Groupe islamique armé (gia), Armed Islamic Group, claimed responsibility for the abduction and killing of the monks and for other killings.

     In the second half of the year there was an increase in the number of bomb explosions; the gia claimed responsibility for a number of such attacks. Scores of civilians were killed. For example, in October at least 10 civilians were killed, including women and children, and more than 70 injured, when a bomb exploded in a market in the town of Kole'a.

     Hundreds of people were arrested on charges of "terrorism" and other security offences. Hundreds were released without charge, but several hundred remained detained awaiting trial at the end of the year. Among them were prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, including journalists detained for publishing information deemed to undermine state security. Chawki La'amari, journalist and cartoonist with the daily La Tribune, was arrested in July for drawing a cartoon featuring the Algerian flag. He was tried on charges of insulting the national flag and given a three-year suspended prison sentence. The director and the editor of the newspaper also received suspended prison sentences of one year and six months, respectively, and the newspaper was closed for six months.

     The 12-day legal limit for incommunicado detention was routinely breached. The security forces systematically held detainees in secret detention, often for prolonged periods, and refused to acknowledge their detention. In July, Rachid Mesli, a human rights lawyer, was abducted at gunpoint by a group of unidentified armed men who stopped his car, in which his five-year-old son and a relative were also travelling. The authorities refused to acknowledge his detention for over a week. During secret detention he was reportedly beaten and otherwise ill-treated and threatened with death. He was subsequently charged with having links with armed opposition groups and was detained awaiting trial at the end of the year.

    Beatings and other ill-treatment were increasingly reported in prisons. In September, several detainees were reportedly beaten and otherwise ill-treated in El-Harrache prison in Algiers. No inquiry was known to have been carried out by the end of the year.

     Scores of people arrested in previous years remained detained without trial at the end of the year. They included 'Abdelkader Hachani, a leading fis figure, detained since January 1992, Nadir Hammoudi, an engineer, detained since October 1992, and 'Ali Zouita, a lawyer, detained since February 1993.

     Trials of individuals accused of "terrorism" and other security offences continued to violate international standards for fair trial. The courts routinely disregarded allegations by defendants that their confessions, which they retracted in court, had been extracted under duress.

     Reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in secret detention centres were widespread. Bouasria Ben 'Othman, an asylum-seeker deported from Belgium in July, died in secret detention in December, allegedly as a result of torture. The authorities said that he had thrown himself out of a window. There had been no investigation of his death by the end of the year. In most cases torture was reportedly used to extract information and confessions from detainees during secret detention, which often lasted for weeks or months. The most commonly reported methods included: the "chiffon", where the detainee is tied to a bench and a cloth is placed in the mouth through which a mixture of dirty water and chemicals is poured causing choking and swelling of the stomach; electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body; tying a rope around the detainee's penis and/or testicles, causing swelling of the genitals; suspension in contorted positions; cigarette burns; and beatings. For example, a 16-year-old boy arrested in August on charges of having links with armed groups was reportedly subjected to the "chiffon" method, having his genitals tied with a metal wire, electric shocks and beatings during secret detention. He remained detained awaiting trial at the end of the year.

     Hundreds of people who "disappeared" after arrest in the course of the year and in previous years remained unaccounted for and some were reported to have been killed. Kamel Chorfi-Khelil, an engineer who was reportedly arrested in June and later seen in the Châteauneuf detention centre, remained "disappeared" until October, when he was reportedly extrajudicially executed. Allaoua Ziou, Djamaleddine Fahassi, Mohamed Rosli, Brahim Cherrada, Mohamed Chergui, Yamine 'Ali Kebaili, and 13 others who "disappeared" after their arrests in 1993, 1994 and 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996), remained unaccounted for. The authorities denied that some of these "disappeared" had ever been arrested, and stated that others had been killed by the security forces in armed confrontations, or had been abducted and killed by "terrorists". However, the authorities failed to provide substantive information as to the precise circumstances of these deaths, and in some cases the information contradicted reports from other sources, including official sources. They also failed to explain why the families had not been informed of their relatives' deaths. According to the authorities, Saghir Bouhadida, who "disappeared" after arrest in June 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996), was killed during a security force operation aimed at arresting him and other members of an armed group. No clarification was provided as to why his family had not been informed of his death at the time.

     'Ali Belhadj, a fis leader arrested in 1991 and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in 1992, remained "disappeared". He was reportedly last seen in mid-1995 in a secret detention centre in the Tamanrasset desert region in the south of the country.

     No investigations were known to have been carried out into cases of deaths in custody and extrajudicial executions during the year and in previous years. In April, the authorities stated that Fouad Bouchelaghem, who had been arrested in June 1994 and was reported to have been extrajudicially executed in July 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995), had been shot dead by the security forces in detention while attempting to escape. No further details about the circumstances of his death or clarification as to why his family had not been informed were provided.

     Hundreds of death sentences were reportedly imposed during the year, many of them in absentia, but the exact number was not made available. According to official figures issued during the year, 336 death sentences, 277 of them in absentia, had been imposed in 1995. More than 600 detainees sentenced in previous years, many after unfair trials, remained on death row. No judicial executions were reported during the year, and the moratorium on executions announced in December 1993 remained in force.

     In November, Amnesty International issued a report, Algeria: Fear and silence _ a hidden human rights crisis. This included recommendations to the Algerian authorities to investigate human rights violations committed by the security forces; to bring to justice those responsible; and to take concrete measures to prevent further violations, including disbanding all government-backed militias. The organization also called on armed opposition groups to end the killing and abduction of civilians. Most of the concerns contained in the report had been raised with the authorities in a confidential memorandum in 1995. No response was received to this memorandum or any other communication. The Algerian Government failed to respond to Amnesty International's requests to send a delegation to discuss its concerns with the authorities.