he organizations “Lawyers for Lawyers,” “SHOAA for Human Rights,” “The Law Society of England and Wales,” and the “International Bar Association Human Rights Institute” issued a joint statement regarding the arbitrary travel restrictions imposed on Algerian lawyer Mourad Zenati, a member of the Collective for the Defense of Hirak Detainees.
They called for the lifting of the travel ban, an end to his harassment, and for him to be allowed to carry out his professional activities without fear of retaliation. They also urged the adoption of all necessary measures to ensure that lawyers in Algeria are not subjected to harassment because of their work.
Read the full press release below:
Algeria: Serious concern over the ongoing harassment of human rights lawyer Mourad Zenati
Lawyers for Lawyers, SHOAA for Human Rights, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute express serious concern regarding the arbitrary travel restrictions imposed on Algerian lawyer, Mourad Zenati.
Mr Zenati is a prominent human rights lawyer and a member of “The Collective for the Defense of Hirak Detainees” (hereinafter the Collective), a lawyers’ group formed after the first wave of arrests of peaceful Hirak demonstrators in 2019. Lawyers in this Collective aim to defend those arbitrarily arrested, detained and prosecuted but have faced intensifying harassment from authorities in recent years. In April 2024, several of our organisations issued a joint statement highlighting our concerns regarding the escalating targeting of lawyers in Algeria.
On 9 August 2024, Mr Zenati was prevented from leaving the national territory at the Oum Teboul border post, due to a ban circular issued on 1 December 2022, by the Amizour Court in Bejaia. Mr Zenati was not notified of the court order and remained unaware of the restriction until he attempted to travel.
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