Months ago, SHOAA received numerous complaints from dozens of Syrian families regarding the detention of their sons and relatives in Algerian prisons due to their attempts to migrate to Europe. Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, SHOAA received many calls from the families of Syrian detainees inquiring about the fate of their loved ones. Among them are individuals sentenced to four years in prison, such as the case of the brothers Mahmoud Jumaa Al-Jassim and Fadl Jumaa Al-Jassim, as well as the brothers Salim Al-Ibrahim and Jumaa Al-Ibrahim. There are also the brothers Muhanad Kabbani and Mohammad Kabbani, who have been imprisoned since March 2024 and were sentenced, along with eight other Syrians, to one year in prison and a fine of 100,000 Algerian dinars. Others remain in pretrial detention under investigation.
The Syrian migrants detained in Algerian prisons are mostly held in the Messerguin Prison and Gdyel Prison in the Oran province. They face charges of entering and residing in the national territory illegally, the misdemeanour of attempting to leave the national territory unlawfully, the misdemeanour of failing to report a migrant smuggling crime, and the felony of migrant smuggling by organizing the departure of several individuals, including minors, from the national territory. These acts were allegedly committed by more than one person and within the framework of an organized criminal group.
Since Algeria imposed visa requirements on Syrians in March 2015, there has been a radical shift in the migration landscape. Before this change in visa policy, Syrian refugees could travel effortlessly from Beirut to Algeria. However, with the implementation of these strict restrictions, Syrians seeking asylum have been forced to take perilous and fragmented routes through West and East Africa to reach Tunisia and Algeria. These newly established pathways are longer, more expensive, and fraught with dangers, often leaving migrants trapped in a vicious cycle of crippling debt—not only owed to family and friends but also frequently to unscrupulous smugglers.
The Algerian authorities have adopted a hostile stance toward Syrian migrants, violating their international obligations to provide protection by detaining and imprisoning hundreds of Syrian migrants and depriving them of access to asylum and urgent humanitarian assistance.
The complaints received by SHOAA from dozens of Syrian families included concerns about the prison conditions of their sons and relatives, the criminal charges brought against them, and the detention of many in administrative prisons. Additionally, SHOAA received numerous complaints and testimonies from Syrian migrants who had been deported without receiving humanitarian assistance and were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment. SHOAA conducted interviews with some of these individuals and with relatives of Syrian detainees in Algerian prisons. During these interviews, SHOAA was able to document testimonies that shed light on the dire situation, including the risks and legal challenges that Syrian migrants continue to face.
On May 25, 2024, in the Debdeb area of Algeria near the Libyan border, border guards arrested 37 Syrian migrants, including a woman, a child, and an elderly person. Upon their arrest, all their belongings, including money, cigarettes, and phones, were confiscated. They were then transported to In Amenas in a military cargo vehicle. On May 27, 2024, they were presented before a judge at the In Amenas Court, who sentenced them to a non-executable fine of 30,000 Algerian dinars for illegally entering the national territory. However, they were neither released nor deported. Instead, they spent five days at a National Gendarmerie center under extremely harsh conditions, forcing them to sleep outdoors on bare ground.
Later, on May 31, 2024, they were transferred to a National Security Center in the city of Illizi, where they were placed in a handball court repurposed as an administrative detention center. They shared the space with detainees of other nationalities, crowded together, including a 55-year-old woman and a 12-year-old child. Despite seeking asylum, their requests were denied. The conditions they endured were appalling, including malnutrition, food infested with cockroaches, and meals that had been cooked two days prior. This resulted in some losing up to 20 kilograms in weight, alongside enduring constant verbal abuse. Their ordeal was punctuated by threats of deportation, with guards mocking them by saying, “Assad wants your lives.”
After spending 90 days in detention, at the end of August 2024, they were transferred on a gruelling journey. They were crammed into suffocating buses with closed and obscured windows, no air conditioning, and left uncertain about their destination. When they asked about where they were being taken and their fate, security personnel responded vaguely, saying they were being moved to “resolve their situation” without specifying the destination.
After a 50-hour journey under the supervision of security forces, they were dropped off at an administrative detention center for refugees in the Sidi El Houari area of Oran province. There, they found another group of migrants, including other Syrians, bringing the total number of detainees at the center to 106 migrants: 80 Syrians, 3 Palestinians, 1 Tunisian, and more than 20 Moroccans.
They faced harsh and degrading treatment accompanied by violent abuses. Among the victims were Ismail Al-Safssaf and Molhem Al-Aidi, who, along with 45 others, endured these inhumane conditions, crammed into a space far too small to accommodate their numbers.
After 20 days of administrative detention, on September 19, 2024, 71 Syrian migrants, including two individuals over 60 years old and a 12-year-old child, were once again transferred on a gruelling journey. They were crammed into suffocating buses with closed and obscured windows, no air conditioning, and subjected to a 50-hour journey under the supervision of security forces toward the border town of Debdeb.
Upon their arrival on September 22, 2024, they were taken off the buses and placed into four-wheel-drive vehicles, which transported them to the border area between the Algerian town of Debdeb and the Libyan town of Ghadames. There, they were forced to walk tens of kilometres in the desert under scorching temperatures, where they were abandoned in the burning desert sands. They suffered from severe thirst, further exacerbating their ordeal. In their desperation, some resorted to drinking their own urine to survive before eventually reaching the Libyan town of Ghadames, where they found help or private means of transportation.
Despite being a party to the Refugee Convention, Algeria has deprived Syrian migrants of the right to asylum and humanitarian assistance. It has not adopted any legal framework recognizing the process of seeking asylum or the status of refugees. Furthermore, despite being a party to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Algerian authorities have forcibly deported Syrian migrants to dangerous border areas between Algeria, Niger, and Libya, where they faced numerous risks, some of which claimed their lives.
In blatant violations of human rights, the Algerian authorities have persisted in their hostile policies toward Syrian migrants, particularly the treatment of Syrian detainees in Algerian prisons. Despite numerous recommendations received by Algeria during the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review, urging it to respect migrants’ rights, it has shown no commitment to implementing those recommendations.
SHOAA calls on the Algerian authorities for the urgent and immediate release of detained Syrian migrants. It also urges them to facilitate the voluntary and safe return of migrants wishing to return to Syria, with full respect for the principle of non-refoulement. Additionally, SHOAA calls on the Algerian authorities to work on developing a fair and legal system for dealing with irregular migrants.
