Amnesty calls on Algeria to reverse decision to deport Syrian refugee

Amnesty International yesterday called on Algeria to reverse its decision to deport a Syrian refugee, after he was found not to have the correct documentation.

In a press statement, Amnesty said: “The Algerian authorities may be preparing to forcibly return an 18-year-old Syrian refugee after he entered the country without official legal documentation.”

The statement added: “Moustafa Albakkor, 18, fled Syria in 2012 to escape the crisis that had begun in 2011 and entered Turkey where he was officially recognised as a refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He travelled to Algeria in August 2014.”

“He was arrested on 18 August and detained in El-Oued Penal Institution, in the north-east of the country. He was tried on 12 October 2014, sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and fined 50,000 Dinars ($600) for ‘entering the country with forged travel documents’.”

Amnesty said Albakkor’s appeal is scheduled for November 5 and he may be forcibly deported to Syria, putting his life at risk. The group called people to take action and write to the Algerian Minister of the Interior Tayeb Belaiz “urging them [Algerian authorities] to uphold their international obligations, under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, to provide international protection for those fleeing serious human rights violations and the armed conflict in Syria.”.

It is estimated that here are approximately 15-20,000 Syrian refugees in Algeria, many of whom live in shelters according to figures published by the Algerian Ministry of the Interior.