The Algerian League of Human Rights works to defend and promote human rights in Algeria. The organisation seeks to educate citizens on democracy and the development of principles of good governance. This work is carried out under the pressure of an authoritarian political system and a trend toward extremism in religion.

"Yousef Fathallah was assassinated in front of his office; he was not carrying a weapon, only morning newspapers filled with news of death and destruction. He could not have imagined that newspapers would publish his picture the next day as a victim of assassination.

When Yousef Fathallah was alive and after his assassination, our league condemned terrorist acts implemented by armed Islamist groups, and condemned the State institutions’ practices that have no respect for the law or for principles of human rights, which we defended. Nor do they have respect for man’s right to life, security and physical integrity. We called for respect for principles of justice and a state of law; we also demanded dialogue rather than armed conflict and killing as a means to solve the political crisis.

Due to our position towards both conflict parties, we gained their animosity, and we therefore became victims of terrorism and oppression of state institutions alike. We have lost many people who were active with us, because of either killings or threats.

Personally, I have suffered after the assassination of Yousef Fathallah, the former chairperson, numerous hardships together with my sons. One of them was shot in the chest by a police officer while he was driving my car, and another suffered from the terrifying experience of having been told by an anonymous caller that I was going to die soon, not to mention the concerns I had for the league and its future, given the fear members have been experiencing after losing many of their friends and especially the chairperson. I was concerned with regard to the Human Rights movement in Algeria which is still in its primary stages; for who would otherwise confront assassinations, extra judicial killings, forced disappearances and unfair trials?

Facing this much pressure made me overcome fear, and I worked for the re-unification of the league’s activists again, in order to face terrorism and authority’s arbitrary practices. As everybody knows, my homeland, Algeria, has undergone a tragic situation since 1992 and still does; a situation that has caused 200 thousand people to die, resulted in the disappearance of more than 6 thousand people, and the rape of a large number of women, in addition to thousands of people who fled their towns and villages to escape death. We are now familiar with death in our every-day life, and therefore we no longer fear it. We have lost many friends and loved ones, and I remember now Yousef Fathallah, the former chairperson of the Algerian League for Human Rights, which I am honoured to preside now. After ten years, the security situation improved, and Algeria is heading now to national reconciliation. We are, though, of the opinion that the reconciliation which the regime has approved is incomplete as it as at odds with truth and justice, legitimises impunity, and prohibits even speaking of the tragedy that Algerians have lived.

Crimes that took place remain unpunished and their perpetrators remain unknown, although they caused more than 6 thousand people to disappear and many others to be extra-judicially killed. The terrorists who have surrendered have not been tried, and Algerians are deprived of their right to know the truth about what has happened, and denied the right to claim that those who have caused them to suffer be brought to justice."