Upon hearing of State Secretary Antony J. Blinken’s planned visit to Algeria, through the press release issued by the official spokesman of the US State Department issued on Thursday, March 24, 2022, SHOAA has put together a letter and report to Secretary Antony J. Blinken and the US State Department on the current human rights situation in Algeria.

We are appreciative and thankful for Secretary Antony J. Blinken’s commitment and inclusion of human rights in the visit’s Agenda. Where he explicitly stated: “I also reaffirmed to the president and the foreign minister the importance of concrete progress on human rights, including freedom of religion for all faiths, freedom of expression, especially political speech.”

It is undoubtedly clear that Mr. Blinken’s rhetoric was impactful and heard by the Algerian authorities. As it resulted in the release of 52 prisoners of opinion, almost overnight, some of which were released at the midnight hour. The decision of their release came on the same day as Secretary Antony J. Blinken's visit, with most of those released were accused with charges under Article 87 bis of the Algerian penal code.

State Secretary Antony J. Blinken and the US State Department’ s position of furthering human rights has been made clear. Unfortunately, there are numerous others falsely imprisoned, as the Algerian authorities have tightened their grip on civil society and independent press.

The Algerian authorities have ignored condemnations from the United Nation, European Parliament, international, and domestic NGOs, concerns of the Algerian authorities having “escalated their tactics to silence peaceful dissent and suffocate independent civil society.”

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This is visible through Tebboune rhetoric and avoidance of human rights discussion in his address to Secretary Antony J. Blinken, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. His statement spoke predominantly on external affairs with brief superficial mentions of internal concerns.

Completely evading UN, European Parliament, international, and domestic NGOs concerns on civil society and arbitrary arrests.In his address he mentioned democratic transitions, commitment to democracy, empower the youth, and civil society observatory.

A contrary point of view to Human Rights Watch, European parliament, Amnesty International, UN high commissioners, and several others. Who have all, on different occasions, spoken of Algerian authorities having “escalated their tactics to silence peaceful dissent and suffocate independent civil society.” and/or other human rights abuses.

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On Tuesday, 08 March 2022, during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for: the Algerian government to change course and take all necessary steps to ensure the rights of its people to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

This call was made through the annual report and oral update of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of her office and recent developments in the field of human rights.

Furthermore, his claims of undisputed election is plain untruthful. The elections were protested by Algerians, and as the US States Department report mentioned  “restrictions on civil liberties during the election period and lack of transparency in vote-counting procedures.”

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The reality is quite contrary, his claim of an indisputable election result is unsubstantiated and false. All elections ( presidential elections held on December 12, 2019, legislative elections held on June 12, 2021, and local elections held on November 27, 2021) witnessed widespread popular rejection.

There were massive campaigns of repression and arrests coinciding with the organization of each election. This is against protests in the street, and their calls to boycott the elections through social media.

The bases of the protests were that the authorities did not provide good conditions that guarantee the integrity and transparency of the elections.

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Furthermore, every election the Algerian authorities escalated their repressive campaign against the protests. Opposing them by carrying out waves of arbitrary arrests, forcibly dispersing peaceful demonstrations, prosecuting, as well as imprisoning dozens of activists and peaceful opponents.

It seemed that Tebboune’s concerns do not prioritize or even include civil society nor internal human rights. His address consisted of avodiness of global concerns, misleading detours, and false proclamation of democratic rule.

Although the Secretary Antony J. Blinken’s effort has led to the release of over 52 prisoners of opinion, there are some 300 more still falsely imprisoned, some of which have been in pretrial for over ten months. Some have been falsely accused, prosecuted, and had their records tarnished.

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As we stated in our report: The new authority in Algeria has been excessively aggressive and armed with new amendments of Article 87 bis of the Algerian Penal Code, which falls within the framework of combating terrorist organizations, has the ability to encompass anyone and/or any entity, who expresses a dissent.

Through this broad, retroactive, overreaching legislation, the Algerian authority has made several arrests of human rights activists, defenders, journalists, lawyers, and professors. This was executed under the false premise of terrorist  charges, all aimed to suffocate independent civil society in algeria and their attempt at preserving power.

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Advocating and supporting human rights in Algeria is everyone's responsibility, as well as reminding the Algerian authorities of their commitment and respect for international agreements. These agreements are based on the promotion of human rights, therefore it is imperative for the Algerian authorities to release all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and activists in prisons. 

levantnews, SHOAA