Algiers – Algeria has ordered one its most prominent rights groups be disbanded, the organisation said on Sunday, confirming a court order issued after a request by the interior ministry.
The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) played an important role in the North African country’s 2019 unprecedented Hirak protests, which unseated longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
The group said the interior ministry had lodged a suit with an Algiers court “to request that our organisation be dissolved” last May.
The court ruled in the ministry’s favour in June, issuing the order in September, LADDH said in a statement.
“The LADDH was absent or kept in the dark throughout the entire process,” the organisation added.
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“Like other organisations, political parties and millions of Algerians, the LADDH is paying for its involvement in the peaceful Hirak movement… for democracy, freedoms and human rights,” it added.
LADDH’s confirmation came following days of rumours after a document was published anonymously on social media containing the same details.
The group confirmed the document’s authenticity and said it had been made public “illegally” by a third party.
The Hirak protests continued for months, demanding the dismantling of the political system and its representatives, who have been in power for several decades.
Rights groups say hundreds of people have been arrested in relation to the movement.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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