Algeria: Secret detention/fear of torture/medical concern: Abderhamane Mehalli

[Al-khiyal]

05 January 2007

UA 08/07 Secret detention/fear of torture/medical concern

ALGERIA: Abderhamane Mehalli (m), aged 29

Abderhamane Mehalli was arrested at his home in the Bachdjarah district of Algiers on 26 December 2006 by a group of plain-clothes security force officers, believed to include members of a military intelligence agency known as the Département du renseignement et de la sécurité, DRS, the Department for Information and Security. Amnesty International fears that he is being arbitrarily and illegally detained by the DRS in a military barracks in Algiers, part of which is used as a secret detention centre, and that he is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. The organization is particularly concerned for his safety given reports from his family that he is in poor health, suffering from diabetes, among other medical conditions.

Abderhamane Mehalli’s family have made enquiries with the authorities about his whereabouts, but have been given no information. At first, police officers in Bachdjarah confirmed that he had been arrested and said he had been handed over to the central police authority of Algiers, who then told the family they had no record of his name. Abderhamane Mehalli’s relatives say they are too scared to approach the DRS directly, particularly as several members of the family have been tortured in state custody.

Abderhamane Mehalli has been arrested on numberous occasions since 1993, when one of his brothers, Bedrane, joined an armed group during Algeria's recent decade-long internal conflict. The conflict broke out in 1992 following the Algerian authorities' cancellation of the country's first multi-party elections, which the Islamic Salvation Front (Front islamique du salut, FIS) looked set to win, and sparked a human rights crisis of massive proportions.

In 1996 Abderhamane was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after being convicted of belonging to a terrorist group and refusing to cooperate with the authorities. Abderhamane said that he was tortured during questioning before his trial. After his release in 2001, Abderhamane Mehalli was arrested, briefly detained and questioned on two further occasions, in 2001 and 2005, during which he says he refused proposals that he collaborate with the authorities as an informer. In June 1998, Abderhamane Mehalli’s father, mother and two of his sisters were arrested by plain-clothes officers believed to belong to the DRS and taken into detention in a military barracks in Algiers, where they say they were tortured. The mother and sisters were released around a week later, but the father, Mohammed Mehalli, has still not been seen, and is believed to have died in custody as a result of torture.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In Algeria, suspects may be held without charge for a maximum of 12 days, under Article 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The arresting authorities must immediately give them the opportunity to communicate with their families and to receive visits from them.

The provisions of this law are routinely violated in cases of terrorist suspects or members of their family as they are systematically held incommunicado for up to 12 days, or sometimes longer. It is while they are in secret detention in barracks operated by the DRS that detainees are most at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International has received information on several cases where detainees were held by the DRS for months without contact with the outside world in violation of Algerian and international law, during which time they were reportedly subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Algeria’s civilian authorities do not exercise effective control over the activities of the DRS. Judicial authorities routinely overlook allegations of abuse by the DRS, so that its officers enjoy effective impunity.

Amnesty International - Algeria: Secret detention/fear of torture/medical concern: Abderhamane Mehalli

[Al-khiyal]

Further information on UA 08/07 (MDE 28/001/2007, 5 January 2007) -

Secret detention/fear of torture/medical concern

ALGERIA Abderhamane Mehalli (m), aged 29

Abderhamane Mehalli was brought before a judge in the capital, Algiers, on 6 January and charged with belonging to a terrorist group and failing to denounce a criminal to the authorities. The charges appear to arise from his supposedly having contact with his brother, Bedrane, who joined an Islamist armed group in 1993. After the court hearing he was taken to Serkadji prison, Algiers. In prison he is in far less immediate danger of ill-treatment or torture.

He had been held for 11 days without any contact with the outside world, at an undisclosed location believed to be the barracks of the military intelligence agency Département du renseignement et de la sécurité, DRS, the Department for Information and Security, in Algiers.

In court Abderhamane Mehalli reportedly appeared to be in fragile health and distressed. When the judge asked him about the conditions he had been held in, he apparently replied that he had been tortured but that he could not say any more for fear of being taken back to the barracks of the DRS. There have been persistent allegations of such practices in DRS barracks.

He admitted to the charges against him, but there are concerns that he did so under coercion. The security force officials who escorted him to the court apparently threatened him with being returned to the barracks and subjected to further ill-treatment if he did not do so. Abderhamane Mehalli was accompanied by a lawyer when he appeared before the judge, but was not permitted time to consult with him before the hearing.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals. Amnesty International will continue to monitor Abderhamane Mehalli's case, and take further campaigning action as necessary.

Amnesty International - Algeria: Further information on secret detention/fear of torture/medical concern: Abderhamane Mehalli