Algeria: 33 year-old Man Beaten to Death by the Police - "Honest Mistake" or a Serious Police Crime?

A thirty-three year old Algerian man is dead due to police brutality...This incident would have gone unnoticed had it been committed inside police station walls, in a prison, and out of the public eye. However, this thirty-three year old Algerian man died in front of his parents and neighbors, and even strangers in the district who were moved by the screams and tears. According to the police and the authorities, he was a drug dealer and simply died from an overdose. His parents and the bereaved city of Mascara describe him as young, full of hope, and without a criminal record. Behind the conflicting descriptions, a sad reality: Ahmed Sahnoun was born in a country where serious violations of human rights are considered "simple blunders" in the eyes of Farouk Ksentini, president of the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (National Human Rights Institution).

On October 9, Ahmed Sahnoun was arrested without cause by six police officers outside his home in the neighborhood of the Ben Fetta brothers in Mascara, some 350 km from Algiers. Very soon after arresting him, the police officers handcuffed him and began to beat him with batons and kick his head. They continued to beat him, everywhere on his body while Ahmed pleaded, "Stop, you're going to kill me! "... In response, one of the said told him: "You can die" ... Local residents and Ahmed's friends and family, who witnessed the scene, reported that the police continued to beat him. Some also argue that the agents brought a bottle to his throat. Others even say that the police made ​​him drink a liquid in order to induce vomiting. Ahmed Sahnoun was transported to the nearest hospital around 6pm, and he was pronounced dead a few minutes later.

The Wilaya Security Services were then rushed to contact the local media on the evening of Ahmed's death, claiming Ahmed Sahnoun was, "a fugitive involved in cases of detention and drug trafficking." The statements were repeated in Ennahar – a newspaper close to the Algerian authorities - in its October 11 issue.

The authorities claimed to have ordered an autopsy in order to determine the cause of death and said the coroner's report, which was prepared at Meslem Tayeb hospital, "does not indicate any traces related to beatings by police. Ahmed's death was due to suffocation after ingesting a large quantity of psychotropic pills. "

Ahmed's friends and family reject these allegations, stating that the victim had no criminal record and that he held two jobs - as a driver for a company selling car cleaning products, and a street vendor. He had just obtained a government loan to start his own business ... Moreover, the cause of death released by the authorities was immediately challenged.

This death has shocked the residents of the city and has provoked important riots. An large security force was deployed following these events. The involvement of police in this violent and senseless death raises fears that the authorities did not conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into his death.

Alkarama and the Algerian Human Rights Observatory request the Algerian authorities conduct a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the death of Ahmed Sahnoun and bring those responsible to justice.