”I would like to thank you again for the wonderful work you have done to support us” - Hassiba Boumerdesi
Posted: July 6, 2007
Human rights lawyer Hassiba Boumerdesi faced trumped-up charges and a possible prison sentence in Algeria. The good news of her acquittal came on April 25, 2007.
© Amnesty International
When Algerian human rights lawyer Hassiba Boumerdesi sent this message to Amnesty International members in December 2006, she was facing a court trial and possible prison sentence.
She and fellow human rights lawyer Amine Sidhoum had been charged with breaking laws regarding prison security.
Prison authorities claimed that that Boumerdesi and Sidhoum had given items to their clients in prison without permission.
Amnesty International believed that the charges were trumped up, that Hassiba Boumerdesi and Amine Sidhoum were being targeted because of their human rights work. Both lawyers had documented and opposed torture and unfair trials. Both had worked with organisations of families of the “disappeared”.
Amnesty members around the world wrote letters to the Algerian authorities asking for the charges to be dropped and for the lawyers to be allowed to do their human rights work without being harassed. Members also wrote personal messages of support to Hassiba Boumerdesi and Amine Sidhoum.
Their trial began in Algiers on January 17, 2007. Then on April 25 came good news: Hassiba Boumerdesi and Amine Sidhoum had been acquitted. Both Hassiba Boumerdesi and Amine Sidhoum have thanked Amnesty members for the moral support they received.