After a long hunger strike of the people died in lawyer Kameleddine Fekhar. His death shows the questionable dealings of the government with the opposition. Of an orderly legal system, the country is far away.
For two months he had been on a hunger strike. On Tuesday of this week, the Algerian people died rights activist Kameleddine Fekhar. Only a few weeks before his death, he had been in the hospital in the city of Blida, 50 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers, laid.
Over the years, Fekhar, a learned physician had used, for the interests of his ethnic group, the Berbers burly Mozabiten,. The approximately 300,000 Mozabiten life in the oasis city of Ghardaia in Central Algeria. Religiously, they belong to the ibadites, a Muslim community of faith to belong neither to the Sunni nor the Shia.
The Region of Ghardaia is one of the economically least developed of the country. Their remote location has prevented a recovery so far. Also, the Algerian state had encouraged the Region to date call value. According to hart, the Berber inhabitants with those of Arab origin compete for the economic resources. The conflict is largely, if not continuously, along ethnic lines. Both sides do not shy away from violence.
An economic, not an ethnic conflict
However, it does not go in this conflict is primarily ethnic or religious conflicts, says the political scientist Rachid Ouaissa, of the University of Marburg. “The government has always tried again, this conflict as a ethnic display. It will pass but in the actual core of the problem.” In fact, Inge is the conflict of the General Distress in the Region corresponding to.
Poverty in Algeria: the children have to work
“Unlike the coastal towns of the interior of the country have never experienced an upswing. The globalization is the growing trade flows will pass to you.” It was in many cities and regions of North Africa, the case, Ouaissa, in an interview with Deutsche Welle. “Think of the uprising in Tunisia in 2011. Also started in an economically neglected Region with widespread poverty.”
Questionable Charges
Fekhar, one of the leading representatives of the “Front des Forces Socialistes”, one of the oldest opposition parties in the country, had repeatedly insisted on economic and political reforms. In addition, he had accused the government, the Mozabiten aimed to suppress. Four years ago, he had been sentenced to a multiyear prison sentence arrested. However, after his release, he dedicated himself more for his ethnic group.
In March of this year, he was again arrested. The allegation have been on call for armed assemblies, a threat to national unity and non-recognition of court decisions, reported Fekhars lawyer, Salah Debouz in an interview with DW. Then Fekhar joined in the hunger strike. Against him, so Debouz, had been brought by the authorities of the same charges, they were released because of massive protests of his lawyer colleagues, but again fall.
Serious allegations against the authorities and Doctors
Also Debouz raised serious allegations against the Algerian authorities. “The medical staff did not treat Fekhar appropriate”, so Debouz. “The doctor in charge refused to even speak with the patients.”
“A Martyr who died for his opinion”: protests after the death of Fekhars in Algiers
The fate of Fekhar throw a light on the worrying situation of human rights in Algeria, the Marburger political scientist Ouaissa, in the DW-interview. The protests against a further term of office of the now-retired 82-year-old President Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika had to the poor economic Situation in many regions of the country and the high unemployment was due to the among young people. In the less developed parts of the country, these problems arise in even more acute Form. The government had not taken care of these regions sufficiently. Protests they encounter in all their sharpness. Including the human rights suffered.
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Mass protests in Algeria, to keep
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Mass protests in Algeria, to keep
Whether the situation will change, is currently open. The for the 4. July presidential elections, an important date to be set for the further development. “It will show, if it comes to a real Transition, a Transition in the direction of democracy and the rule of law.”
The death Fekhars show also that political prisoners would continue to be treated as enemies of the state. International human rights organization would not have reasonable opportunity to be in Algeria active. “This is all the more dramatic, as Algeria is an important Partner of the European Union. In Germany it is considered as the other Maghreb countries as a safe country of Origin. The death Fekhars must give the policy to think also in Germany”, said Ouaissa.