Rachid Mesli is a French

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n human rights lawyer and activist, living in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and acting as the Director of the Legal Department of Alkarama (Human rights organisation based in Geneva). In 1991, he became part of the defense lawyer team defending the case of the arrested leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front, Abbassi Madani and Ali Belhadj. On 31 July 1996, he was abducted at gunpoint from his car by four assailants who turned out to be members of the security forces. He was then detained secretly for over a week, repeatedly beaten and threatened with death, and eventually charged with belonging to a terrorist group. In July 1997, he was acquitted of this charge and instead convicted of having "encouraged terrorism", a charge that had not been brought against him in the trial and against which he had no opportunity to defend himself.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

said the trial had "clearly violated international standards for fair trial". In December 1998, his conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court; he was kept in prison while awaiting retrial, contrary to Algerian law. In June 1999, he was found guilty of belonging to a terrorist group and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was released in July 1999, one and a half weeks before his sentence was to end, as part of a presidential pardon. In 2000, fearing for his and his family's safety, he left the country to live in

. Since moving to

, he has continued his human rights activism. In 2001, he co-founded

Justitia Universalis Lady Justice ( la, Iustitia) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are scales, a sword and sometimes a blindfold. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia. Lady Justice originates from the ...

, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting impunity. In the same year, he submitted the cases of Abbassi Madani and Ali Belhadj, the detained leaders of the banned Islamic Salvation Front, to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, which ruled that both were being detained arbitrarily, since their 1992 trial had failed to comply with international standards. This verdict greatly displeased the Algerian government, which subsequently charged Rachid Mesli with belonging to an "armed terrorist group" operating abroad, issuing an unenforceable arrest warrant. According to

, several Algerians (

Tahar Facouli Tahar may refer to: People with the surname *Amor Ben Tahar (born 1969), retired Tunisian football player * Arcandra Tahar (born 1970), 5th Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia (2016-), 16th Minister of Energy and Miner ...

Brahim Ladada Brahim is a shorter form of Ibrahim, the Arabic name for Abraham. It may refer to: * Brahim (given name) * Brahim (surname) * Brahim (Pashtun tribe), a tribe in Afghanistan *Stage name of Brahim Attaeb, Belgian-Moroccan singer *Stage name of Brahi ...

, and

Abdelkrim Khider ʻAbd al-Karīm ( ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الكريم) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, also a surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Karīm'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give r ...

) have been arrested and tortured mainly for being in contact with him. Appeal Case - Algeria: Torture of Brahim Ladada and Abdelkrim Khider
Amnesty International 14 November 2002 In 2007, he co-founded

Rachad Rachad ( ar, رشاد) is an Algerian islamist political movement. Rachad claims its goal is to "bring about a fundamental change in Algeria, to break with the political practices in progress since independence and to restore hope to the Algerian ...

, an organisation dedicated to overthrowing the Algerian government through mass nonviolent resistance.

References

External links

Rachid Mesli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesli, Rachid Algerian human rights activists Algerian dissidents Living people Human rights lawyers 20th-century Algerian lawyers Lawyers from Geneva Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Algerian lawyers