Abd Al Hamid Goura
Abd Al Hamid Goura is a human rights defender head of the Laghouat city section of the Ligue Algérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights) an independent association working on the documentation of human rights violations in Algeria committed by security services and armed groups. The organization mainly focuses on cases of prisoners of conscience and enforced disappearance.
The lifting of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency in early 2011 did not have a positive effect on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs). Human rights defenders have continued to be subjected to harassment, threats, physical attacks, arbitrary detention and legal proceedings.
Peaceful protests have been forcibly dispersed and protesters and human rights defenders have been arrested and charged. An indefinite 2001 ban on protests continue to remain in force in the capital Algiers. A number of HRDs have been put on trial under Article 100 of the Penal Code, which punishes the incitement of unarmed gathering.
