Algerian prisoners in Libya seek deportation
Ech-Chorouk, September 11, 2007
Algerian prisoners at al-Jadida prison in Tripoli (Libya) conveyed a message to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in which they ask him to contact Libyan command to deport them to Algeria.
Some of the Algerian prisoners benefited from the Libyan revolution leader Muammar al-Gaddafi months ago. Others were pardoned, many years ago.
However, they are still staying in prisons as the Algerian embassy is stalling on their deportation.
Eight Algerians are sentenced to death for drug charges. Two others are sentenced to have their hands cut off and three Algerian women are sentence to 8 years prison. A total of 34 Algerian prisoners are sentenced to life in prison.
Zeroukia Jeloul, Amina Mensouri, Hada Chendam, Amina and Hayet Nazeli are five Algerian women imprisoned at al-Jadida prison in Tripoli.
Amina, 35, comes from western Algeria. She is divorced and has 3 children. She travelled to Libya to work in a pastry shop there. She rent a house and lived in Libya for 13 years.
She said she knew a man who wanted to marry her. One day, she was with him in his car and the police arrested them when they discovered two quintals of drugs in the car. They were sentenced to 25 years prison.
“I ask the Algerian government to deport me to Algeria to have trial there because I am repressed here in Libya,” she said.
“I asked the general director of the prison Ahmed Souaii and he told me the prison administration has nothing to do with the deportation and the Algerian embassy in Libya is in charge,” she added.
Amina said the general consulate in Libya visited all Algerian prisoners in al-Jadida prison and took a list of their names to deport them, “but they did not deport all of them.”
Two other Algerian women prisoners are sentenced to have their hands cut off for robbery. One of them is called Zeroukia Jeloul. She was arrested in 2005 and sentenced in July 2006.
Amina Mensouri was sentenced in March 2007 and Hada Chendam was sentenced to 7 years prison.
Hada Chendam benefited from Muammar al-Gaddafi’s pardon but the Algerian general consulate and embassy in Libya could not deport her because she did not have legal documents.
Amina said 95 Algerians were deported from Libyan prisons to Algeria but the prisoners who were sentenced to death were excluded from the deportation.
Amina’s lawyer Samia al-Warch Thani said Amina was convicted for carrying two quintals of drugs with a man who was arrested with her in the same car. The lawyer said she filed a petition in the Supreme Court for an appeal.
Libyan justice deported about 100 Algerian prisoners to Algeria few weeks ago, according to the same source. Amina was not deported because the list of the deported prisoners was done before Amina was sentenced.
As for Amina Mensouri’s lawyer Lila Douzan, she said Amina Mensouri was arrested in November 2006.
Amina Mensouri is accused of stealing jewels worth of 40,000 Libyan dinars from a Libyan senior official’s house where she was working as a maid, according to her lawyer.
Amina Mensouri confessed to the theft and gave back all the jewels. Her lawyer said the Libyan law stipulates sentences between imprisonments and have hand cut off.
The lawyer is expected to appeal to the Libyan Supreme Court to reduce the sentence.
According to a list of the Algerian prisoners’ names, eight Algerians are sentenced to death and kept in solitary confinement.
They benefited from al-Gaddafi’s pardon but they have not been deported yet.
Abdelhalim Ramdani, 34, is sentenced to life in prison for drug charges. “The Libyan revolution leader Muammar al-Gaddafi issued a total pardon to all foreign prisoners in Libya including Algerians. The embassy deported 95 Algerians from al-Jadida prison to Algeria in March,” he told Echorouk.
“They told us we would be deported by groups but we are still waiting and they have not deported us yet,” he added.
Press attaché at Algeria’s embassy in Libya Bachiri Bekhouche said the Algerian general consulate in Tripoli is in charge of the Algerian prisoners’ issue and the embassy’s prerogatives have nothing to do with this issue.
