Human rights organisations in Algeria have created a group of committees to tackle abuse of prisoners in the country following reports of rights violation.
The group is made up of the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), the National Coordination of Algerian Academics for Change and the Collective of lawyers for the defense of prisoner of conscience.
The CNLD estimates more than 70 people are currently imprisoned in Algeria in connection with the Hirak protests or for individual freedoms.
Reports claim a 25-year-old protester Walid Nekkiche was beaten and raped by security forces while in custody.
Nekkiche was arrested last November during a march by students of the anti-government Hirak protest movement.
The committee vowed to address torture and inhuman prison conditions in the North African country.
‘What shocked us is that when Walid Nekkiche is abused, we are all abused, as a people, as civil society, as activists, as citizens, etc. And that, in my opinion, should not go unpunished’, Algerian journalist Zoheir Aberkane said.
The movement forced the resignation of President Bouteflika but they still protest against the government to this day.
‘If today we ask for a trial, it is a fair trial. The torturers have not been directly condemned, we have filed a complaint, we have told the justice system to intervene according to domestic and international laws’, Algerian lawyer Nacéra Hadouche said.
Source: Africanews
Photo source: Africanews
