Arrested for posting on social networks, Mohamed Tadjadit, Noureddine Khimoud and Abdelhak Ben Rahmani protest against the extension of their pre-trial detention.
Le Monde avec AFP
Three young Algerian prisoners of conscience on hunger strike to demand their judgment were transferred, Tuesday, January 5, to a hospital in Algiers, following the degradation of their state of health, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).
Mohamed Tadjadit (26), Noureddine Khimoud (25) and Abdelhak Ben Rahmani (38), who were detained in the Algerian prison of Al-Harrach, began a hunger strike ten days ago to protest against the extension of their pre-trial detention.
They were transferred Tuesday to a hospital in the capital, said the CNLD, an association that helps prisoners of conscience in Algeria, on its Facebook page.
Prosecuted in the same case, the three men – activists of the popular protest movement Hirak – were taken to Mustapha Pasha hospital in Algiers, said to AFP one of their lawyers, M e Meriem Kacimi.
“They are tired but they are now under surveillance. Doctors are awaiting the results of their analyzes “, she explained.
Unjustified deposit warrants
Mohamed Tadjadit and Noureddine Khimoud have been in detention since the end of August. were arrested the day after their participation in an anti-regime rally organized at the Casbah of Algiers. Mohamed Tadjadit, nicknamed the “poet of Hirak” for his verses recited during the demonstrations or shared on Facebook, is a well-known figure of the movement born in February 2019. Sentenced at the end of 2019 for “undermining the national interest”, he had served a short prison sentence before being provisionally released on January 2, 2020, along with 75 other detainees. Abdelhak Ben Rahmani a He was arrested in early October.
Their request for provisional release was rejected in November. They have been charged with ten charges, including “undermining national unity”, “inciting unarmed assembly”, “offense to the President of the Republic” or e “dissemination of false news”, according to the CNLD. They are notably based on their messages and videos relayed on social networks.
More than 90 people are currently in prison in Algeria in connection with the Hirak protests and individual freedoms. Prosecutions based in at least 90% of cases on publications on social networks critical of the authorities, according to the CNLD. Lawyers and defense committees for prisoners of conscience denounce unjustified arrest warrants in view of the charges.
According to Communication Minister and government spokesman Ammar Belhimer, “there is no no prisoners of conscience in Algeria “.