Algeria cracks down on opposition figures in exile after quelling dissent at home

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS) joined a long list of rights watchdogs that alert to the growing repression of the Algerian regime against peaceful dissidents abroad after a brutal crackdown on criticism at home.

In a report dubbed “The Noose is Tightening Around Us: Algeria’s Use of Transnational Repression to Crackdown on Dissent”, the Cairo-based institute details a series of rights breaches against Algerian opposition figures abroad, such as Slimane Bouhafs, an Amazigh Christian activists who was kidnapped from Tunisia in connivance with authorities there in 2021, despite having a UNHCR refugee status.

The report sheds light on Algeria’s transnational repression from 2020 to 2024, based on 19 in-depth interviews with 21 exiled activists, as well as insights from their legal representatives and family members.

“The Algerian government is increasingly pursuing activists abroad, targeting individuals who advocate for democracy and human rights. This isn’t just an isolated strategy; it’s part of a comprehensive campaign to suppress calls for change and impose strict control over narratives about dissent in the country,” Amna Guellali, Research Director at CIHRS.

After increasingly closing all spaces for dissent within Algeria since the suppression of the Hirak popular uprising in 2020, authorities have expanded their repressive reach to target dissidents and journalists abroad.

Recently, journalist Hichem Abboud was abducted in Spain and rescued in extremis by the Guardia Civil there.

Another dissident journalist Abdou Semmar was attacked by pro-regime agents in France and sentenced in absentia to death by an Algerian court in 2022.

Anwar Malik, another opposition figure, was intimidated by the arrest of his brother in an attempt by the Algerian regime to blackmail and silence his critical voice.

The dissidents who venture to return to the country face a similar fate to that of writer Boualem Sansal who was thrown in jail right after his arrival from France where he had given an interview questioning the regime’s narratives and criticizing its oppressive methods.

The regime sought to quell dissent by resorting to conspiracy theories accusing human rights defenders and activists of serving a foreign agenda and indicting them on the basis of a penal code that criminalizes opposition to the regime.