Leader of Kabylia Movement Received by UN Special Rapporteur

President of the Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK) and of ANAVAD (Provisional Government of Kabylia in Exile), accompanied by Zidane Lafdal, Prime Minister of the said government, were received, on Thursday at the headquarters of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, by the UN special rapporteur on human rights, in charge of Algeria.
This meeting follows the Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Algeria, which took place on November 11, where the majority of speakers denounced the alarming deterioration of human rights in Algeria, in addition to the country’s ongoing human rights violations, particularly against opponents of the regime.
So far, over 340 Algerians, including MAK activists, have been imprisoned because of their involvement in the Hirak or for defending individual freedoms, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).
For his part, vice-president of the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH) Saïd Salhi was forced to leave the country.
The UN mentions credible reports about the prosecution of hundreds of people for participating in the Hirak movement or for posting messages critical of the government on social media.
The High Commissioner also received “allegations of torture and ill-treatment in prisons, including sexual violence”. He called on the Algerian regime “to put an end to arbitrary arrests and detentions” and to “release, immediately and unconditionally, all those arrested or detained for their alleged support for the Hirak, and drop all charges against them”.