The Human Rights Committee (CDH) once again pinned Algeria for acts of torture and illegal detention.
The Committee issued an opinion to this effect in the context of the complaint filed by a former element of the Polisario in the name of M’Rabih Ahmed Mahmoud Adda, against the Algerian State, for kidnapping and acts of torture and ill-treatment he suffered on the territory of this country, whose agents directly handed him over to the Polisario intelligence services, in retaliation for his activities of denouncing human rights violations in the separatist camps.
The Committee recalls that the complainant usually resided in the Tindouf camps in Algeria. He continued his secondary education in M’sila, in the center of the country, as well as in Libya. He returned to the camps in 1998 and underwent military training in an Algerian army barracks, before being assigned to a military unit. Since 2010, the author has lived from the trade in contraband fuel.
In May 2011, the plaintiff and several young activists challenging the authority and practices of the Polisario founded a movement to peacefully denounce the violations of the fundamental rights of the people sequestered in the Tindouf camps. According to the author, since its creation, this movement has organized many sit-ins, calling in particular for the departure of the leadership of the separatists.
He was the subject of a first arrest on March 26, 2013 and was detained for three days by “the security services” in the Tindouf camps and suffered torture and ill-treatment, as well as threats intended to deter him. to stop his political activities. Released on the third day, he nevertheless continued throughout 2014 to lead peaceful protest activities against the actions of the Polisario leadership.
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M’Rabih Ahmed Mahmoud Adda is one of the founders of the Assomoud association, which aims to claim the right to freedom of expression and movement, as well as decent living conditions for the sequestered population in Tindouf. With this organization, he took part in an open sit-in in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Rabouni in January 2014.
For this reason, he was arrested a second time on July 25, 2014 while returning to Tindouf. He was at the home of one of his relatives, located in the Ennahda district, in Tindouf, when around 2 p.m., four agents of the Algerian security services in civilian clothes took over the premises.
After forcing their way into the house, the Algerian agents hastened to cover his head and handcuff him, while beating him with truncheons. No reason was communicated to him for his arrest and no court order was presented to him, according to the same source. After a violent beating, the author was taken to the entrance of the Rabouni camp, then handed over to Polisario agents among whom he was able to recognize ML and AOAS, who immediately took him to the Errachid detention center , known to camp residents as a place where torture was commonly practiced.
The UN Human Rights Committee recalls that Algeria not only has a duty to conduct thorough investigations into the alleged human rights violations brought to the attention of its authorities, in particular when it comes to violations of the right to life, but also that of prosecuting anyone presumed responsible for these violations, of prosecuting them and pronouncing a sentence against them.
In this regard, the UN Committee has already expressed its concerns about the de facto devolution by Algeria of its powers, in particular jurisdictional, to the Polisario and the fact that such a position is contrary to the obligations of the State. party that it should respect and guarantee to all individuals within its territory the rights recognized by the Covenant.
The UN Committee has already pointed out that in such a context, the victims of human rights violations who live in the Tindouf camps do not have an effective remedy before the courts of the State party.
With MAP