European Parliament Votes an Emergency Resolution on The Deterioration of Freedoms in Algeria
PERSISMA, Brussels, The European Parliament meeting in plenary in Brussels has adopted an urgent resolution on Thursday 26 November evening denouncing the deterioration of freedoms in Algeria. This is the second time in a year that a European Parliament resolution has been adopted urgently calling on Algeria to respect human rights and bring the international community to witness the grave situation of freedoms in that country.
The resolution adopted by 669 MEPs for and only 3 MEPs against, almost all members of the European Parliament, condemns the repression of human rights activists and journalists and denounces the security screw-tightening on freedoms.
Recalling the resolution of the European Parliament of 28 November 2019 on the situation of freedoms and that of 30 April 2015 on the imprisonment of human rights activists and workers in this country, as well as the annual report of the European Union on human rights and democracy in the world, published on June 15, 2020, the text adopted today underlines that the political arrests and arbitrary detentions of peaceful activists from the Hirak and trade unions, as well as journalists, have increased since the summer of 2019, in violation of fundamental rights to a fair trial and due process of the law.
MEPs also believe in this resolution that “censorship, trials and heavy sanctions against independent media, often accused of plotting with foreign powers against national security, continue to worsen” and that “the restrictions security measures introduced to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have helped tighten controls and are used by the authorities to further restrict civic space, limit peaceful dissent and hamper freedom of expression ”.
The resolution is also concerned, in the current context of repression in Algeria, “of cases of torture in the police stations and in the general direction of internal security (DGSI) in Algiers, as against the prisoner Walid Nekkiche”.
In this same context, she refers to the arbitrary imprisonment of journalist Khaled Drareni for the sole reason of having covered the demonstrations linked to Hirak.
In their resolution, MEPs “strongly condemn the escalation of illegal and arbitrary arrests and detentions and the legal harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, trade unionists, lawyers, members of society. civilians and peaceful activists in Algeria, which closes any possibility of political dialogue on the undemocratic constitutional review and hinders the exercise of freedoms of expression, assembly and association ”.
It also calls on the EEAS, the European Commission and the Member States to “be publicly firmer on the subject of respect for human rights and the rule of law in Algeria, by condemning, unambiguously and in a public manner. , human rights abuses, by urging the authorities to release victims of arbitrary detention and to end the excessive use of pre-trial detention, by demanding access to detainees and by observing the trials of activists, journalists and human rights defenders, as well as by closely monitoring the human rights situation in Algeria by all available means ”.
