ALGERIA People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Head of state: Abdelaziz Bouteflika Head of government: Ahmed Ouyahia (replaced Abdelmadjid Tebboune in August, who replaced Abdelmalek Sellal in May) The authorities continued to arbitrarily detain peaceful demonstrators, human rights defenders, activists and journalists. Associations continued to face undue restrictions, and legislation that restricted the right to form trade unions remained in place. Members of the Ahmadi Muslim religious minority group were unjustly prosecuted. Impunity for past abuses prevailed. Migrants faced mass expulsions. Courts handed down death sentences; no executions were carried out. BACKGROUND In January, new austerity measures announced by the government triggered protests and strikes, particularly in the northern Kabylia and Chaouia regions. In February, a presidential decree established Algeria’s new national human rights institution, the National Human Rights Council, replacing the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In May, Algeria was examined under the UN UPR process for the third time.1 Also in May, legislative elections characterized by low participation brought limited change to party representation in parliament and Abdelmadjid Tebboune briefly became Prime Minister after a government reshuffle, before Ahmed Ouyahia replaced him in August. Low-level sporadic clashes took place between security forces and armed opposition groups in several areas. In August, a suicide bomber killed himself and two policemen in an attack on a police station in Tiaret, west of the capital Algiers, which was later claimed by both the armed group Islamic State (IS) and al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Amnesty International Report 2017/18 FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLY The authorities continued to arrest and prosecute peaceful activists, including those protesting about unemployment and public services. Those protesting in solidarity with detained activists, as well as journalists and bloggers covering protests on social media, were also detained. In January, police arrested renowned blogger Merzoug Touati in Bejaia, Kabylia region, following anti-austerity protests in Kabylia. The authorities kept him in detention while investigating him for interviewing an Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman on his blog, and for posts about the protests. In June, police arrested journalist Said Chitour on suspicion of espionage and selling classified documents to foreign diplomats. In November his case was transferred to the Penal Court. The authorities maintained a protest ban in Algiers under a decree from 2001. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION The authorities kept many associations, including Amnesty International Algeria and other human rights groups, in legal limbo by failing to respond to registration applications under the highly restrictive Associations Law. Local authorities denied authorization to the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) to hold a human rights meeting in October and a public event celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December. The government had yet to produce a new draft law respecting freedom of association, as required by the constitutional amendments of 2016. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS Human rights defender Hassan Bouras was released in January after a court reduced his one-year prison term to a six-month suspended sentence. Police had arrested him for posting a video on the YouTube channel of the El Bayadh branch of LADDH alleging corruption among high-ranking officials in the city of El Bayadh. 71