Question from Mme BOYER Valérie, tireless human rights campaigner and Senator for Bouches-du-Rhône – Les Républicains published on 29/06/2023
Valérie Boyer draws the attention of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs to human rights violations in Algeria, particularly against the Kabyle population. Since 2021 and a reform of the Algerian penal code, notably article 87-bis, this country has adopted a very broad definition of terrorism.
As a result, they now equate “terrorism” or “sabotage” with any call to “change the system of governance by non-constitutional means”. Also, on May 18, 2021, the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) was classified as a “terrorist” organization by the Algerian authorities.
With this reform, according to Kabyle associations, over 500 Kabyle poets, writers, journalists and community activists have been imprisoned and “falsely” accused of terrorism. Amnesty International and the American authorities have condemned this redefinition of terrorism.
On February 9, 2022, nearly 340 prisoners of conscience were arbitrarily detained in Algeria. Franco-Kabyles leaders of associations and activists for Kabyle culture are regularly detained in Algerian airports. Thousands of Kabyle families are unable to return to their loved ones.
In November 2022, an Algerian court sentenced the president of the movement for the self-determination of Kabylia (MAK), in exile in France, to life imprisonment in absentia “for creating a terrorist organization and undermining territorial integrity and national unity”.
This sentence was part of an often bloody crackdown on Kabylian linguistic, cultural and institutional demands that began before Algerian independence. Between 1949 and 1956, Kabyle militants within the Algerian national movement, who defended the vision of a plural Algeria, were sidelined and then assassinated.
She also wishes to denounce the repression suffered by peaceful activists in Kabylia at the hands of the Algerian authorities. Many young Kabyles are detained in Algerian prisons, some for taking part in peaceful rallies, others for their writings on social networks, or for carrying the Kabyle or Amazigh flag. Some are Christians, and are accused, as usual, of offending Islam. In June 2022, the head of US diplomacy spoke of attacks on the freedom of the Christian community in Algeria, resulting in the closure of some thirty Protestant religious communities.
According to a latest count dating from spring 2022, seventeen churches had been closed since 2017, and other places of worship were still under threat of closure in application of a wali (prefect) decree. The worst year for the faithful was unquestionably 2019, with 13 places of worship dedicated to the Protestant rite placed under seal, the majority of them in Kabylia. To justify their decisions, the authorities say they suspect these churches of harboring proselytizing activities, and their promoters of not complying with the law governing worship in Algeria.
She would like to know the French government’s position on this matter.
Published in the JO Sénat of 29/06/2023 – page 4002
The French Senate: Human rights violations in Algeria, particularly against the Kabyles.
