Former Colonel Mohammed Samraoui faces prosecution by the Spanish Judiciary
The former Algerian Colonel Mohammed Samraoui was arrested by the Spanish police on 22 October in Benalmádena, where he had come to participate to an international chess tournament. His arrest was made in application of an international arrest warrant issued by the Algerian authorities in October 2003 on the grounds of ‘desertion, undermining the army’s morale and terrorist activity’.
After spending a week in prison, Mohammed Samraoui was released, but his identification papers were not given back to him, and he is obliged to remain in Spain and show up before a judge twice a week. Mr. Samraoui is thus unable to go home to his family in Germany, where he enjoys the status of political refugee.
Mohammed Samraoui became famous for having deserted the Algerian Military Security (DRS) because he disagreed with the methods it used and the gross human rights violations committed by his hierarchy. In a book released in 2003 (« Chronique des années de sang »), he denounced both the crimes committed by terrorists and the violence used by Algeria’s state organs against its own population throughout the 1990s. Algeria reacted to the publication of his book by issuing an arrest warrant against him.
Four years later, although Mohammed Samraoui has been able to travel freely to several European countries, the Spanish judicial authorities are the only ones taking this arrest warrant seriously, though it is based on groundless, or even totally ridiculous accusations, and its only objective is to harass M. Samraoui, a genuine defender of human rights in Algeria.
We would like to recall that Mohammed Samraoui was granted refugee status in Germany in 1996, and that he must not, under any circumstances, be extradited back to his country of origin, where his life would be in danger.
The Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network urges the Spanish judicial authorities to immediately drop legal action against Mohamed Samraoui and to allow him to return to his home in Germany without further delay.
A press conference organised by several Spanish human rights associations will take place on Friday 30 November in Barcelona in support of Mr. Samraoui (further details to be posted later on our website www.euromedrights.net).
