Originally posted to the Middle East Monitor website, 9 February 2021.
Algeria will open an investigation into allegations security forces tortured a student while he was in custody, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
Walid Nekkiche, 25, claimed members of the security forces “sexually, physically and verbally assaulted” him while he was in custody, sparking calls for an inquiry.
The prosecutor said in a statement cited by AFP that “a preliminary investigation into the matters brought forward” by the 25-year-old had been opened, with the aim of “establishing the truth about what happened.”
The move came after the allegations made by Nekkiche sparked popular outrage in Algeria and calls for an independent inquiry into his claims.
The 25-year-old told Algerian daily Liberte: “I was first taken to the La Casbah police station, then to the Bab El-Oued police station, where I was overwhelmed with hearings.”
“I was transferred to Ben Aknoun […] quarters where I spend six days living through hell. There was a lot of pressure on me… After this long distressing passage in this sinister place, I was presented to the examining magistrate of the court of Bab El-Oued before being imprisoned in the prison of El-Harrach.”
“I have endured a lot during these fourteen months in prison and especially the six days spent in Ben Aknoun.”
Nekkiche was arrested in Algiers on 26 November 2019 while participating in a Hirak movement anti-government student march.
He spent more than a year in administrative detention before his trial at the Dar El Beida court in Algiers last week.
He was later released on time served after being sentenced to six months in prison for his role in distributing anti-government pamphlets.
The prosecutor had requested life imprisonment for Nekkiche on charges of conspiracy against the state, undermining national integrity, and inciting the population to bear arms, AFP reported.
According to the National Committee for the Release of Detainees, a prisoner’s rights group, nearly 90 per cent of the people currently in jail or police custody are connected to the Hirak protest movement.
The Hirak protest movement was formed in February 2019 to demonstrate against then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office.
Bouteflika was forced to resign under pressure from the mass protest movement in April 2019, after nearly 20 years in power.
Protests continued after Bouteflika’s ouster, however, only halting when coronavirus restrictions forced demonstrators off the streets in early 2020.
Link to original post: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210209-algeria-to-probe-students-allegations-of-torture-in-custody/
