{"id":644688,"date":"2019-05-30T15:45:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T15:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Kamel<\/div>

Algeria is to investigate the de"},"modified":"2019-05-30T15:45:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T15:45:29","slug":"algeria-to-probe-activists-prison-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/05\/30\/algeria-to-probe-activists-prison-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Algeria to probe activist’s prison death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Kamel<\/div>\n

Algeria is to investigate the death in custody of a prominent human rights activist, the country\u2019s justice ministry said.<\/p>\n

Kamel Eddine Fekhar, a leading advocate for the minority Mozabite community, died on Tuesday while being held in pre-trial detention, with his lawyer accusing judicial authorities of being responsible.<\/p>\n

The 54-year-old activist had been on hunger strike since his arrest in late March, his family have said.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Salah Dabouz said Fekhar was held in Ghardaia, 480km south of the capital Algiers for weeks \u201cin inhumane conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fekhar, a doctor, died at the Blida hospital after being transferred there \u201cin a comatose state\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a video posted on his Facebook page, Dabouz denounced \u201cthis planned death by the judicial authorities of Ghardaia\u201d who he said detained Fekhar without reason.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice said it had \u201cinstructed the relevant services to carry out an in-depth investigation into the circumstances of the death of Kamel Eddine Fekhar\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fekhar was first arrested in 2015 during unrest in the M\u2019zab valley, where Ghardaia is the largest city, between the country\u2019s Berber-speaking Mozabite minority and Chaamba Arabs.<\/p>\n

Rights groups including Amnesty International had called for an investigation into his death.<\/p>\n

The NGO said the authorities must also \u201cimmediately review their repressive policies and the shameful treatment of activists and protesters\u201d, adding that the country must allow for freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate peacefully.<\/p>\n

Algeria\u2019s League for the Defence of Human Rights and the Front of Socialist Forces, Algeria\u2019s oldest opposition group, had both also demanded justice.<\/p>\n

In 2016, a British-Algerian journalist died while serving a two-year jail term for \u201coffending\u201d Algeria\u2019s president. Mohamed Tamalt\u2019s lawyer said he had lapsed into a coma after going on hunger strike.<\/p>\n

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