A Human Rights Watch delegation visited Algiers from March 30 to April 13, 1997, with the knowledge and agreement of the government. We met with the ministers of justice and interior, political party leaders, representatives of civic associations, human rights lawyers and ordinary citizens. Human Rights Watch wishes to thank all of the Algerians who received us, and in particular the Observatoire National des Droits de l'Homme for facilitating meetings with government officials.
We note that, despite our strong objections, our delegation was accompanied during part of the mission by a security escort. After initially agreeing to withdraw the armed escort at our insistence that it placed unacceptable constraints on our freedom of movement and independence, the authorities insisted toward the end of our visit on reimposing this detail on the delegation wherever it went. This forced us to cancel at least three appointments out of consideration for the persons with whom we wished to meet. The security escort, whatever its intentions, thus hampered our ability to gather information.
This report was researched by Nejla Sammakia, research associate at Human Rights Watch/Middle East, and Baher Al-Ashhab, a consultant to Human Rights Watch/Middle East. It was written by Ms. Sammakia. It was edited by Eric Goldstein, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch/Middle East, and Mike McClintock, deputy program director of Human Rights Watch. Shira Robinson, associate at Human Rights Watch/Middle East, formatted the report and assisted in its research.