Isa Rahmoune: “There is no real exercise of citizenship in Algeria”

September 5, 2024
After being in exile for two years following his reluctant departure from Algeria, Isa Rahmoune was recently appointed as the Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). In an interview with “Mediapart,” he painted a bleak yet realistic picture of what Algerian leaders call the “New Algeria.”

By Rashida El Azouzi

It is one of the most painful decisions of his life. In 2022, Isa Rahmoune decided to flee Algeria. The choice between exile or imprisonment for the prominent lawyer representing detainees in the Hirak, the popular uprising that in 2019 ousted the ailing and elusive President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after twenty years in power, was clear.

The lawyer, registered with the Tizi Ouzou Bar Association and a prominent figure in the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), the main NGO defending human rights that was dissolved by the authorities in January 2023, found refuge in France with his wife and their five-year-old son, without abandoning his struggle for a free and democratic Algeria.

Now as the Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), he provides a catastrophic assessment of the presidency of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the president who was strongly elected at the end of 2019, and condemns in an interview with “Mediapart” the conditions of the presidential election called for September 7: “An electoral farce” that he says hides “a dictatorship.”

Mediapart: How do you view from your exile the presidential elections taking place on Saturday, September 7, in Algeria?

Isa Rahmoune: It is an electoral farce: the results are known in advance as in all previous elections. There is no real exercise of citizenship in Algeria. The problem has existed since the country’s independence. The regime has no intention of opening the political, media, or associative space to allow citizens to exercise their right to citizenship and participate in political life.

Civil associations that were supposed to monitor these types of electoral events and alert to malfunctions have been dissolved by the administrative judiciary, including the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, as well as the main youth organization, the Youth Action Gathering, and also Caritas.

Algeria has always been skilled at marketing a civil political authority image internationally, while it is essentially military, under the control of the General Staff of the Army. It is a dictatorship with a civil facade. It represses youth, impoverishes the people, does not seek to address the economic and social crisis, and tramples on individual and collective freedoms, fundamental rights, and the separation of powers.

Who is still deceived? Certainly not the Algerian people. Seeing Europe, in particular, support this type of regime is infuriating. Economic, energy, and financial interests unfortunately outweigh European values. The partnership agreement between Algeria and the European Union prevails, even though Article 2 requires respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, which Algeria does not respect!

How did you come to the decision to flee your country?

I had to flee the country with my wife and our young child in April 2022. I became a target as the lawyer representing activists and protesters in the Hirak, where I condemned unfair trials and actively participated in organizing civil society to advocate for political change, for a free and democratic Algeria. I was also involved in television and press discussions.

I was arrested three times in a short period, which were strong signals from the regime and the General Intelligence. I eventually learned that a file was being prepared against me and a group of activists, including officials from the Algerian League for Human Rights. At that point, I decided to leave the country to continue the struggle in another way.

During one term, Tebboune imprisoned more citizens compared to the period from Algeria’s independence until his rule.

It was an extremely difficult decision, made collectively within the family with my siblings and parents. Everyone advised me to go into exile. Staying in prison would not have served the cause, and I risked losing years of my life. It would also have been a frustration for the younger generations. Leaving Algeria was an extremely painful matter for our family.

It is a great pain, a real exile in the true sense. We lose our bearings, we lose our landmarks. After nearly seventeen years of practicing law, I had to change my path, and there is a kind of social decline. It requires courage, patience, and perseverance.

I dream of returning to Algeria: to be in my home surrounded by my family, but that will not be possible under Tebboune’s rule. During the twenty years of Bouteflika’s rule, we did not stop criticizing his corrupt rule and plundering of wealth, but we were not targeted by our activities.

Now, within one term, Tebboune has imprisoned more lawyers, journalists, professors, unionists, unemployed individuals, and students.

Since March 2019, thousands of arrests have been recorded. Anyone who supported the democratic revolution has become a target, which is unprecedented in Algeria’s history.

And the situation continues to deteriorate…

Today, there is no independent media that can enable discussion between Algerians, between political parties, and civil society. Threats against human rights defenders continue through Article 87 bis, which is used to accuse critics of terrorism to silence them, whether they are protesters, journalists, or individuals expressing their views on social media.

Any activist or political figure calling for a boycott of the presidential elections or discussing democratic transition and the rule of law can be accused of belonging to a terrorist group and end up in prison.

Many activists have faced these charges and have been sentenced to heavy sentences. I think of all those who are in prison, such as journalists who covered the Hirak, Ihsan Qadi, Mustafa Benjama, and many others who are not known.

Do you think the Hirak is the trigger for this sweeping repression?

The Algerian regime seeks to erase all traces and witnesses of the Hirak, that huge democratic revolution, which is the second revolution of the Algerian people. The regime does not want its violations of freedoms to be exposed or its trials against activists to be condemned. It has dissolved our organization, just as Putin’s regime did with Memorial International, the oldest human rights organization in Russia, which is also a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

If the Hirak took place on February 22, 2019, it is because there were organizations like ours that warned national and international public opinion about violations of human rights, citizenship practice, and for democracy and the rule of law.

Since the establishment of the League in 1985, we have continuously addressed the authorities about human rights violations in Algeria, and also about the need to democratize public and political life in the country.

I am confident that Tebboune will not complete his second term […] There will be new early elections.

The regime quickly understood after the Hirak that it needed to eradicate all these self-managed independent organizations, as well as independent media, opposition political parties, such as the Social Democratic Movement (MDS) and the Socialist Workers’ Party (PST), which are now facing administrative and judicial measures aimed at closing their offices and preventing their political activities.

How do you continue your activities today outside Algeria?

Geographic distance forces us to rethink our struggle methods. We have started building joint strategies within the Algerian diaspora abroad, in cooperation with various groups. I continue my work with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), where I have been appointed Secretary General.

This position provides me the opportunity to deal with various conflicts around the world, in Venezuela, Tunisia, Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. I am pessimistic about the near future in Algeria, but I am confident that Tebboune will not complete his second term; he is elderly and has health problems, and there will be new early elections.