Nour-Eddine Mihoubi

Date of arrest: 1993-01-27

Forces responsible: Police

Summary

At 4 p.m. on January 27, 1993, Nour-Eddine Mihoubi and his brother Hocine Mihoubi were arrested by local police officers at Hocine’s home in Diss (Bou Saâda). Hocine Mihoubi was released the following day. He immediately informed his mother, who travelled to Bou Saâda without delay. She tried in vain to obtain information from the police but the officers claimed to know nothing about her son’s arrest.

Nour-Eddine Mihoubi was initially held at the Bou Saâda police station. He was detained there for 11 days before being transferred to the police of the wilaya of Algiers. According to information that his family received in 1995 through former fellow inmates, he was then taken to the Châteauneuf detention centre, where he was allegedly held incommunicado for 18 months. The former fellow inmates also reported that Mihoubi was subjected to torture during his detention in Châteauneuf and that his health seriously deteriorated as a result. Thereafter, his family was unable to ascertain his whereabouts and failed either to establish contact with him or to obtain any news about him from the Algerian authorities.

Steps taken

After January 27, 1993: Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s mother files a complaint with the Public Prosecutor in Bou Saâda. On July 22, 1996, the Assistant Prosecutor of Bou Saâda expressly acknowledged that the Bou Saâda local police had indeed arrested Nour-Eddine Mihoubi and that he had been transferred to the custody of the police of the wilaya of Algiers on February 7, 1993.

After January 27, 1993: Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s father also contacts the Public Prosecutor of Algiers to inform him of his son’s abduction.

October 21, 1995: Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s father petitions the Public Prosecutor of Algiers, the Minister of Justice and the President of the Republic, to no avail.

May 12, 1996: After contacting the National Human Rights Observatory, the Mihoubi family receives a letter dated May 12, 1996, stating that Nour-Eddine Mihoubi is wanted under Prosecutor’s arrest warrant No. 25/93 and investigating judge’s arrest warrant No. 143/93, issued by the Special Court on March 31, 1993.

January 16, 2000: The local police of Bourouba sends an unsubstantiated summons to Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s mother asking her to present herself the following day at the headquarters of the Inspectorate-General of the Directorate-General of National Security in Algiers.

September 28, 2002: The Mihoubi family petitions the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human, to no avail.

March 9, 2006: The Mihoubi family begins the process of obtaining an official declaration of death pursuant to Ordinance No. 06-01 of February 27, 2006 implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.

April 12, 2007: The gendarmerie of Bourouba in Algiers issues a certificate of disappearance for Nour-Eddine Mihoubi.

March 4, 2009: Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s mother seizes the UN Human Rights Committee. Nour-Eddine’s case is also pending before the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

Decision of the Human Rights Committee

Communication number: 1874/2009
Date adopted: 2013-10-18
Source/Author: Rabiha Mihoubi, represented by Track Impunity Always (TRIAL).
Violations found:

Right to life, prohibition of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment (including in relation to the author), right to liberty and security of person, respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, right to recognition as a person before the law and right to an effective remedy (including in relation to the author).

Recommendations:

The State party must guarantee Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s family an effective remedy, including by: (a) conducting a thorough and effective investigation into Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s disappearance; (b) providing his family with detailed information about the results of its investigation; (c) releasing him immediately if he is still being detained incommunicado; (d) in the event that Nour-Eddine Mihoubi is deceased, handing over his remains to his family; (e) prosecuting, trying and punishing those responsible for the violations committed; and (f) providing adequate compensation to Nour-Eddine Mihoubi’s family for the violations suffered, and also to Nour-Eddine Mihoubi if he is still alive. Notwithstanding the terms of Ordinance No. 06-01, the State party should ensure that it does not impede enjoyment of the right to an effective remedy by victims of crimes such as torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The State party is also under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future.

Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No