Call for probe over new Algeria torture allegations

Algiers, March 4 (AFP/APP):An Algerian human rights group on Thursday called for an investigation after allegations that activists of a pro-democracy protest movement were tortured in detention.
“We ask the public prosecutor’s office to act in accordance with the law as soon as there are such revelations,” Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH), told AFP.
Three activists of the Hirak protest movement — Karim Tabbou, Walid Nekkiche and Sami Dernouni — claim they were tortured by the security services.
“The justice system must take responsibility itself by opening a judicial inquiry and a trial,” Salhi said.
At his trial on February 1, 25-year-old student Nekkiche said he was “sexually, physically and verbally assaulted” by members of the security services while in police custody.
His harrowing testimony sparked an outcry in the North African county.
The public prosecutor’s office later announced the opening of an investigation “with the aim of establishing the truth about what happened”.
Tabbou, a prominent Hirak figure who like Nekkiche is no longer in detention, testified on March 4, 2020, that he had suffered violence during his arrest and interrogation in the Antar barracks in Algiers.
Dernouni said during his trial last Tuesday that after his arrest in December he was “stripped naked, beaten, tortured with a taser gun” at the same premises, one of his lawyers, Ali Fellah, was quoted as saying by El Watan newspaper.
The young Hirak activist, who remains in detention, was charged with incitement to gather, undermining national unity and undermining national security.
During his trial, the prosecutor sought a sentence of 10 years in prison against him. The verdict is expected on March 9.

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