Mothers of the disappeared severely beaten Again by police forces

The Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) rises up against the violent repression yesterday morning of mothers of the disappeared during their attempt to meet on the Addis Abeba plaza in Algiers. 

According to information sent by our two membership associations, the Collectif des familles de disparu(e)s en Algérie (CFDA) and Sos Disparu(e)s, an important number of policemen was deployed early yesterday morning around the usual meeting place of mothers of the disappeared who meet there every Wednesday for 12 years[1].

Around 10.30 am, about 40 people converged in small groups to the Addis Abeba plaza. They were able to reach the meeting place before security forces swooped on them.

Wave of violence. Participants were then savagely beaten. Mothers, mostly old women, were thrown to the ground and beaten, before being pushed back below CNCPPDH building. In the middle of this brutal repression, two relatives of disappeared had a blackout and had to be evacuated by ambulance.

According to an anonymous message received the day before the meeting, security agents actually tried to arrest Mrs. Nassera Dutour (photo above) ,

 both spokeswoman of the CFDA and mother of a disappeared. However, families prevented policemen from doing so by protecting her. Besides a 82 years’ old father of a disappeared and a son of a disappeared were immediately arrested and taken by the police as soon as they arrived in the plaza as well as two young men, members of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH).

Those coercive means aim at silencing these mothers. Algerian authorities strive to close the Disappeared File, highly embarrassing for them; however families remain highly tenacious and will never stop struggling for the recognition of their rights to Truth, justice and reparation.

FEMED urges Algerian authorities to stop using violence against these mothers that have already been deeply wounded by the disappeared of their loved ones; and to fulfil their international commitment towards the respect of human rights.

[1] Every yesterday morning since August 2nd, 1998, mothers of the disappeared in Algeria stage a sit-in in front of the National Advisory Commission for the promotion and protection of human rights (CNCPPDH) to claim the Truth on the fate of their disappeared relatives. On August 4th, security forces prevented them from organizing their weekly meeting and severely beat them.