Algeria: UN links journalist arrest to pattern of harassment
UN human rights experts voiced serious concerns over the ongoing detention and hunger strike of Algerian journalist and activist Hassan Bouras, warning that his health has deteriorated and calling for his immediate release.
According to The New Arab and agencies on July 10th, they demanded Bouras’s “immediate release” and an end to the widespread harassment and prosecution of journalists and human rights defenders in Algeria.
In a UN statement, the experts stressed that Bouras’s arrest was part of a pattern of judicial harassment linked to his journalistic and human rights activities.
The experts include the special rapporteurs on protecting rights while countering terrorism and on the right to freedom of expression.
According to UN special rapporteurs, after his arrest outside his residence in El-Bayadh, northern Algeria, by provincial security forces on April 12th, Bouras was held in pre-trial detention on multiple charges.
Charges included alleged membership of a terrorist organisation and disseminating publications deemed harmful to the national interest. After his arrest, his home was raided and his laptop confiscated.
On May 2nd, he was put in solitary confinement after initiating a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment and the violation of his rights.
The statement said that during the 26-day hunger strike, he collapsed twice and his health deteriorated due to pre-existing cardiac and respiratory conditions; however, he did not receive adequate medical care.
On June 22nd, his case was referred to the local criminal court and remains pending trial, according to the UN experts.
The experts said: “We are deeply concerned by the ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr Bouras, as well as the serious risks to his life, health and physical integrity”
Although appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, the experts do not speak on behalf of the UN.
They also urged “Algerian authorities to act without delay to protect Mr Bouras’s life, health and freedom of expression. He must be granted immediate access to legal counsel and adequate medical care.”
Other rights groups have also voiced concern about press freedom in the country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Bouras’s detention forms part of a pattern of judicial harassment spanning more than two decades.
On 13 May, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said Algerian authorities must “stop misusing the justice system to punish journalists solely for carrying out their work or for expressing critical or controversial opinions.”
Algeria is ranked 145th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index, a drop of 19 places from the previous year.
The New Arab and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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