Summon and interrogation of human rights defender Abd Al Hamid Goura
On 5 December 2018 human rights defender Abd Al Hamid Goura was released from police custody after six hours of interrogation relating to a statement he had published on Facebook.
Abd Al Hamid Goura is head of the Laghouat section of the Ligue Algérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights) which is an independent association working on the documentation of human rights violations committed by security services and armed groups in Algeria. The organisation mainly focuses on cases of activists jailed for their views and enforced disappearances.
On 5 December 2018 human rights defender Abd Al Hamid Goura was released from police custody after six hours of interrogation relating to a statement he had published on Facebook denouncing police violence in the city of Laghouat. The human rights defender faces charges of "defamation" and "insulting institutions and bodies corporate" and was freed pending trial. Nevertheless, police officers warned him that they may re-arrest him in the coming days.
On 5 December 2018 Abd Al Hamid Goura was summoned to a police station in Laghouat, hours after the release of a statement by the regional section of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights, which was signed by the human rights defender.
Abd Al Hamid Goura is head of the Laghouat section of the Ligue Algérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights) which is an independent association working on the documentation of human rights violations committed by security services and armed groups in Algeria. The organisation mainly focuses on cases of activists jailed for their views and enforced disappearances.
On 5 December 2018, around 3 p.m., Laghouat police officers went to the house of Abd Al Hamid Goura in order to take him to the police station for an interrogation. When he refused to be escorted to the police station, the police presented a summons order. The human rights defender subsequently complied with the summons and went to the police station where he is currently being held and interrogated. These actions occurred only hours after the release of a statement by the regional section of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights, denouncing the latest use of police violence against citizens in the city on the night of 3 December 2018.
Front Line Defenders condemns the ongoing interrogation of human rights defender Abd Al Hamid Goura, and believes that his arrest is solely connected to his legitimate and peaceful work in promoting and protecting human rights in Algeria.
