E/CN.4/1995/91
page 10
In October 1993, Djamal Bouhidel, a photographer, was murdered at
Blida; Mustapha Abad, formerly acting director of television, was
murdered by a shot in the head; and Smaïl Yefsah, a television
journalist, was stabbed outside his home and then shot to death;
In February 1994, Olivier Quemener, a French journalist, was
murdered in the Algiers Kasbah while on a reporting assignment and his
colleague, Scott Allan White, was seriously wounded;
In March 1994, Majid Yasef, a cameraman working for Hebdo libéré,
was shot down and three other persons, including the magazine’s editor,
were wounded.
Intellectuals are reportedly fleeing the country in order to shield
themselves from extremism and avoid being murdered like Youssef Sebti (a
poet), Ahmed Asselah (Director of the Higher Fine Arts Academy),
Abdelkader Allouala (a playwright), Djilali Belkhenchir (Vice-Chairman of
the Committee against Torture) and Salah Djebaili (Rector of the
Bab-Ezzouar University of Science and Technology).
It is further alleged that women are being threatened so as to make
them respect the Islamic dress code and that a growing number of women
have been killed in attacks by Islamists. Katia Benghana, a 17-year-old
high school student, is said to have been shot to death at Blida on
28 February 1994 after being threatened for failing to wear the hijab
(Islamic scarf).
Foreigners, as one of the Islamists’ main targets, have allegedly
been forced to leave the country. At least 12 French nationals are
reported to have been killed, including 2 members of religious orders in
Algiers on 8 May 1994, namely Hélène Saint-Raymond, Little Sister of the
Assumption, and Henri Vergès, a Marist brother. It is alleged that
12 Croatian and Bosnian workers of the Catholic faith were murdered in
the Tamezguida region on 14 December 1993 and that 7 Russian nationals
have been murdered since October 1993, while other foreign nationals have
been killed and/or permanently threatened.
According to some reports, not a day goes by without murders,
attacks, abductions, destruction of public property, citizens going into
hiding to escape threats, intelligentsia leaving the country, etc. A
veritable spiral of violence, terror and serious human rights violations
caused by the Islamists is said to have seized all sectors of Algerian
society."
Germany
In a communication of 20 October 1994 addressed to the German Government,
the Special Rapporteur transmitted the following information:
"According to information received, the Church of Scientology is
subject to various forms of discrimination.