Project on Middle East Democracy

Project on Middle East Democracy
The POMED Wire


Algeria: Questions on Human Rights, UN Rapporteurs to Visit

August 27th, 2010 by Anna

Farouk Ksentini, president of Algeria’s national human rights commission the National Consultative Council for the Promotion of Human Rights, announced yesterday that the country’s Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia “has invited rapporteurs of the United Nations to investigate and make an audit in Algeria regarding human rights.” Calling the probe “considerable progress,” Ksentini specified that the UN body will investigate violence against women, education rights, and food and water rights. Although various government commissions have been invited investigate human rights conditions in Algeria, however, non-governmental human rights groups are not yet welcome to operate in the country.

On a related note, Algerian national Hicham Yezza (of the “Nottingham Two“) said in an interview with Nottingham Indymedia yesterday that when he was told he might be deported to Algeria after his 2008 arrest in Britain: “I questioned my safety in terms of whether I could safely travel back to my country,” citing Algeria’s history of “dealings with Islamism.” The human rights inquiry comes in the wake of predictions a few weeks ago that Algeria might suspend BlackBerry service for reasons of “economy and…security,” according to Telecommunications Minister Moussa Benhamadi.


Posted in Algeria, Human Rights |

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