Torture of Nouar Abdelmalek: Algeria must recognize its shortcomings

Severe torture inflicted on Mr. Nouar Abdelmalek

In July 2009, the Advocacy Center TRIAL (ACT) filed an individual communication against Algeria before the Committee against Torture on behalf of Mr. Nouar Abdelmalek.

This is the fourteenth application submitted against Algeria by ACT.

A former member of the Algerian army, Mr. Abdelmalek was arrested twice in 2001 and 2005. He was subjected to multiple acts of torture on the part of Algerian security forces, either in secret as well as official detention centers. The irreversible after-effects of the torture inflicted on Mr. Abdelmalek can still be seen today.

Mr. Abdelmalek has consistently protested the torture to which he was subjected, to each judicial authority he has appeared before, but to no avail.  No investigation has been undertaken and no one has ever been charged with the crimes.

With his life being under threat, he was forced to flee his country and ask for asylum in a third party country, where he was granted refugee status.

Mr. Abdelmalek has requested that the Committee against Torture acknowledge that he has been a victim of torture within the terms of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and that Algeria has violated Articles 2 (1), 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the Convention, and subsidiarily Article16.

The author also requests the Committee to direct Algeria to open up a thorough investigation into the affair, to bring those responsible to justice, and to provide appropriate reparations.

More on the Abdelmalek case here.