Case History: Hassan Bouras
On 28 February 2018, Human Rights Defender Hassan Bouras will face trial at Ghardaia Court for “carrying out acts or statements to influence the decisions of judges”.
On 23 October 2017, human rights defender Hassan Bouras was summoned for preliminary investigation in front of an investigative judge at the Ghardaïa Court. He was released from custody in January 2016 having been detained since October 2015.
Hassan Bouras is a leading member of the Algerian League of Human Rights. He is also a journalist and blogger who has intensively reported on corruption and the practice of torture in Algeria. He documented several testimonies on the involvement of leading generals in the Algerian army in severe human rights abuses committed in Algeria in the 1990s, during the armed conflict between the state and militant Islamists.
UPDATE: On 28 February 2018, Human Rights Defender Hassan Bouras will face trial at Ghardaia Court for “carrying out acts or statements to influence the decisions of judges”.
On 18 January 2016, human rights defender Hassan Bouras was released from El Bayadh prison, where he had been detained since October 2015. It is not clear yet if charges against him were dropped.
The human rights defender has been harassed by Algerian authorities since 2003 when he was charged with insulting state institutions, sentenced to two years in prison and banned from practising journalism for five years. In 2008, he was sentenced to two months in prison and fined a sum of 40,000 Algerian Dinar (€285) for publishing articles in the press about corruption and poverty in Algeria.
On 2 October at 6:30 pm in the municipality of El Bayadh, South-west Algeria, around 30 members of the Brigades de Recherche et d'Intervention (BRI) stormed the family home of Hassan Bouras and detained him. They carried out an inspection of his home; and seized his and his two sisters' mobile phones and computers.
The investigative judge then ordered his detention pending further investigation, on charges of “insulting the institutions” and “inciting citizens to take arms against the State authorities”.
Human rights defender Mr Hassan Bouras has been on hunger strike since 2 October 2015, the same day he was arrested by the Brigades de Recherche et d'Intervention (BRI).
On 4 October 2015, the Prosecutor of the municipality of El Bayadh accused the human rights defender of 'incitement to violence and revolt against the state' and 'insulting state institutions'. The investigative judge then ordered his detention pending further investigation. He was arrested on 2 October 2015 in the municipality of El Bayadh, South-west Algeria, when approximately 29 members of the Brigades de Recherche et d'Intervention (BRI) stormed his family home and detained him. They carried out an inspection of his home and seized his and his two sisters' mobile phones and computers. Hassan Bouras is currently held in solitary confinement in Al-Hawd Prison. He is reportedly suffering from very low blood sugar levels and problems with his joints.
The human rights defender has been harassed by Algerian authorities since 2003 when he was charged with insulting state institutions, sentenced to two years in prison and banned from practising journalism for five years. In 2008, he was sentenced to two months in prison and fined a sum of 40,000 Algerian Dinar (€285) for publishing articles in the press about corruption and poverty in Algeria.
On 4 October, the Prosecutor of the municipality of El Bayadh accused journalist and human rights defender Mr Hassan Bouras of 'incitement to violence and revolt against the state' and 'insulting state institutions'.
The investigative judge then ordered his detention pending further investigation.
On 2 October at 6:30 pm in the municipality of El Bayadh, South-west Algeria, around 29 members of the Brigades de Recherche et d'Intervention (BRI) stormed the family home of Hassan Bouras and detained him. They carried out an inspection of his home; and seized his and his two sisters' mobile phones and computers.
The human rights defender has been harassed by Algerian authorities since 2003 when he was charged with insulting state institutions, sentenced to two years in prison and banned from practising journalism for five years. In 2008, he was sentenced to two months in prison and fined a sum of 40,000 Algerian Dinar (€285) for publishing articles in the press about corruption and poverty in Algeria.
