Autor: global-affair

In response to the sentencing of unionist and human rights defender Ali Mammeri, head of the independent National Union of Civil Servants in the Field of Culture and Art (SNFC), to 15 years in prison by the first instance criminal court of the Oum El Bouaghi tribunal, Nadege Lahmar, Algeria Researcher, said: 

“Ali Mammeri’s case is illustrative of the Algerian authorities’ use of unfounded and overbroad terrorism charges to crush peaceful dissent and undermine the activities of unions and other independent groups. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison solely for the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of association and expression, based on his union work, public advocacy for human rights, and private communications with exiled activists — which included sharing information that the authorities considered ‘classified’ regarding reprisals and restrictive measures against unions.

“Instead of investigating allegations that policemen repeatedly beat Ali Mammeri and stripped him naked to force a confession of involvement in criminal action, judicial authorities relied on his ‘forced confession’ to convict him.

“This travesty of justice and disregard for the rule of law must end. We call on the Algerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ali Mammeri and quash his terribly unjust conviction and sentence. Authorities must conduct a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of Ali Mammeri and bring to justice anyone suspected to be responsible.”

Background

On 29 October, following seven months in arbitrary pretrial detention, Ali Mammeri was convicted of several charges, including ‘glorifying terrorist acts’ and ‘disseminating classified information’. He has appealed the conviction. 

Amnesty International has learned from the Trade Union Confederation of Productive Forces (COSYFOP), to which the SNFC is affiliated, that Ali Mammeri’s conviction was based on his communications with activists and unionists to provide information regarding the authorities’ reprisals and restrictive measures against unions. This was later used in communications with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) supervisory bodies.

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