Sixteen organizations, including SHOAA for Human Rights, have issued a joint statement within the framework of the Collective for Solidarity with Algeria, with the support of international organizations, expressing their full and unwavering solidarity with Ms. Nassera Dutour, President of the Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA). This comes in response to the arbitrary denial of entry she faced upon arriving in her home country — a blatant violation of her rights as an Algerian citizen and human rights defender.
Full statement:
In response to a serious violation of the fundamental rights of an Algerian citizen committed to truth and justice, we, members of the Collective for Solidarity with Algeria, with the support of international organizations, denounce an unacceptable authoritarian drift and hereby make the following public.
Nassera Dutour, President of the Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA) and mother of a disappeared person, was subjected to a forced and arbitrary expulsion upon her arrival at Algiers airport, without being provided with any legal justification. The only document handed to her was an incomplete report that failed to mention either the reason for the procedure or the identity of the responsible officer. Moreover, the document was issued without requiring her signature — a clear violation of established procedures.
On July 30, 2025, upon her arrival at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, Nassera Dutour (née Yous) was detained for three hours by border police, without any justification being provided, despite her repeated requests. She was then forcibly placed aboard Air France flight AF1455 bound for Paris. It was only at the last minute, while she was already on the plane, that the aforementioned report was handed to her.
As an Algerian citizen, Nassera Dutour was forcibly removed from her own country, in flagrant violation of her fundamental rights. This act constitutes a serious affront to her dignity, and contradicts the guarantees provided under Article 49 of the Algerian Constitution, as well as Law No. 08-11 of 25 June 2008 on the conditions of entry, residence, and movement of foreigners — a law that cannot legally be applied to an Algerian citizen.
This act also represents a blatant violation of Article 13 (Paragraph 2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country,” as well as Article 12, Paragraph 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country,” and Article 12 (Paragraph 2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which affirms: “Every individual shall have the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
In the face of this arbitrary action, we, members of the Collective for Solidarity with Algeria and the undersigned international organizations, strongly condemn this unjustified and unlawful decision. This act of banishment is a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to every Algerian citizen by the Constitution. It is the symbol of an authoritarian drift where the most basic civil rights are openly violated — in total contradiction to Algeria’s constitutional commitments and the international conventions it has ratified.
By violating its own Constitution, the Algerian state paves the way for impunity and breaks the trust between citizens and the authorities, and between civil society and a state that is supposed to guarantee the fundamental, inalienable rights of all.
Therefore, we, the signatories of this statement — members of Algerian and international civil society and of the Collective for Solidarity with Algeria — declare the following:
- We express our full and unwavering solidarity with Nassera Dutour, and fully support her struggle to restore her right to freedom of movement and to return to her native country — Algeria.
- We strongly condemn this authoritarian drift that deprives an Algerian citizen of her right to free movement, in defiance of existing laws and international conventions, thereby opening the door to dangerous future abuses.
- Finally, we commit to continuing the struggle — by all legal and peaceful means — against violations of Algerian citizens’ rights to freely return to their country, to express themselves without hindrance, and to fully enjoy their citizenship — without fear of expulsion, banishment, or disguised imprisonment.
Signatories:
- Trans-Mediterranean Alliance of Algerian Women (ATFA)
- Justitia Center for Legal Protection of Human Rights in Algeria
- Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA)
- Collective for the Safeguarding of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (CS-LADDH)
- Committee for Justice (CFJ)
- EuroMed Rights
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- IBTYKAR
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
- Foundation for the Promotion of Rights
- Algerian Feminist Association Tharwa n’Fadhma n’Soumer
- Libertés Algérie
- MENA Rights Group
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- Riposte Internationale
- SHOAA for Human Rights
