The United States has criticized the Algerian authorities for classifying the Rachad movement and the Movement for the self-determination of Kabylie (MAK) as “terrorist organizations”. The US State Department devoted a large part to this in its last report on terrorism and affirms that these two movements are not terrorists.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune thought he was muzzling the opposition and independence claims in Algeria by classifying the MAK and the Rachad movement as “terrorist organizations”.
By classifying these two political, civil, unarmed, and above all peaceful organizations as “terrorist organizations” in the country, the Algerian regime is using this weapon to spread its aggression against human rights activists, journalists, politicians , accusing them wrongly and through of being part of these organizations.
The use of terrorism charges by the Algerian regime also serves as a deterrent for all those who would like to criticize the power. The Algiers regime launches these accusations of belonging to these movements in order to throw them in prison and subject them to the worst abuses.
The health of detainees of the peaceful movement of Hirak has deteriorated leading some people to death behind bars.
For Washington, the classification of the Rachat movement and the MAK as “terrorist organizations” by Algeria finds a “political” and not a “security” motivation.
The report on terrorism concocted by the American State Department directly blames the Algiers regime under the presidency of Abdelmadjid Tebboune which “amended its penal code to broaden the definition of terrorist acts” and “used the new amendments to detain political activists and outspoken critics of the government”.
The United States denounced these practices, which they described as a “national list of terrorist individuals and entities” created by Algeria to block the way to politicians and popular personalities who have the capacity to replace the regime in place in the event of a free and democratic elections.
“The United States considers these designations to be motivated more by political than security considerations, as both movements are highly critical of the government and do not appear to have committed what the United States defines as acts of terrorism.” , says the 2021 Terrorism Report.
In the engagement related to the fight against terrorism with the United States, “the Algerian authorities have notably refrained from discussing these movements or the presumed threats they represent”, continues the State Department.
The same source adds the Algerian regime’s recourse to charges “of terrorism-related crimes for activities that appeared to constitute peaceful expression and activism”.