Adbul's Misconceptions about Algeria

Society Religion & Philosophy
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This is a response to AdbulMalick (already posted once in the general forum, in response to his post “our killing fields”). I’ll post my thoughts on the Taliban in a separate post. The point of these posts is to demonstrate that ** religion, in particular certain interpretations of Islam ** are one in a list of factors, which contribute to human rights abuses.

Malick cites a number of ‘Muslim countries’ as examples of countries where human rights abuses occur. Implicated in each of the examples is ‘Islam’. According to Malick, Islam is the ** sole ** source of violence and human rights abuses in these particular countries. In particular, what Malick labels ‘fundamentalist’ Islam.

The “atrocities” in Muslim countries are similar to those committed in other less developed parts of the world. Many brought on by poorly developed institutions, a lack of legal structures and law enforcement, poverty, undemocratic politicization, the remnants of years of foreign control, de-colonization, war, post-war and post-nationalist struggles. It is a grave mistake to think that human rights abuses in Muslim countries are solely the product of religious intolerance and supported by what Malick terms ‘fundamentalist’ Islam.

Malick cites Algeria as an example, where “fundamentalist Muslims [are] killing Muslims [who are] seen as ‘secularists’.”

I’m assuming that he is labeling the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) ‘fundamentalist Muslims’. Like other Islamic parties, the FIS emerged as a political force after disappointed youths witnessed years of failure of a government dominated by an elitist group well entrenched in the ways of their former colonial master - the French (who by the way, were probably the worst colonialists, in terms of human rights abuses and treatment of Algerians). The FIS agenda attempted to balance individual and societal interests and at the same time attempted to address Algeria’s chronic unemployment and mal-distribution of wealth. The FIS seen secularism and related ideologies as a major cause for Muslim decline.

In its ** first multi-party elections since independence ** on June 12, 1990, the FIS one an overwhelming majority of seats. The people of Algeria had spoken, with resounding support for the Islamists, to the shock of the west. In fact the FIS won a majority in all major cities: 64.18 % in Algiers, 70.50 % in Oran, 72% in Constantine. The FLN only won 32% in municipalities and 29% in regional elections. Many voted for the FIS out of protest for the FLN, which did little to change the economic/social conditions in Algeria after the removal of the French.

The FIS did not issue radical Iranian style Islamization programs. They did not impose veiling, or close public baths, close bars or prevent women from working or voting. As the new elections neared in June of 1991, the government introduced new election laws which redrew voter districts to weaken the performance of the FIS in favor of the FLN (John Esposito, The Islamic Threat). FIS called for a nationwide strike. The president called the army in to restore order. Madani and Belhadj (FIS leaders), and five thousand supporters of the FIS were arrested, and the elections postponed. The two leaders were charged with conspiracy against the state and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Algerian military, disregarding voters intervened in a de facto coup to prevent the FIS from “enjoying the fruits of their democratically elected and earned power” (John Esposito). The military acted days before the next elections where the FIS were poised to win another electoral victory.

The actions of the secular government led to ** human rights organizations criticizing the “mounting human rights abuses and calling for the release of FIS leaders arrested for acts of peaceful expression as well as all those who have been arrested for offenses involving nonviolent speech or association,” ** (Human Rights in Algeria since the Halt of the Electoral Process - The Middle East Watch). The FIS in response instituted a military wing the Islamic Salvation Army, which in the absence of dialogue pursued armed struggle against the regime. Also anti-Islamic death squads operating in Algeria, sponsored by the government, including the Organization of Free Young Algerians and the Organisation Secrete de Sauvegarde de la Republique de l’Algerie emerged. Their goal was to suppress the Islamists, and they have taken responsibility for attacks and murders of Islamists. Attacks on civilians reflect cultural and class conflict as much as they did political circumstances. The violence has deepened the polarization of society in Algeria.

In terms of the ethnic tensions, groups consisting of Berbers also emerged. In particular the Assembly for Culture and Democracy (ACD) denounced the government and called for armed resistance against what they charged was the “fundamentalist genocide” against fellow Algerians (here they use your term - fundamentalist to describe a secularist government, John Esposito, The Islamic Threat). FIS leader Madani was released for a short period, but promptly thrown back in jail. John Esposito writes,

  • “Algeria demonstrates the extent to which both a secular and a proposed Islamic state can be the source of division and conflict between secularists and Islamists, among Islamists, between Arab and Berber, between Francophone and Arabphone visions and values. Having survived a long and bloody war of independence, the Algerian people became locked in what some have termed a war of national identity, defining or redefining the nature of what it means to be Algerian. ** A spiral of state violence and Islamist counter-violence, of government-directed death squads and radical Islamist terrorism, produced a civil war which threatened the very fabric of civil society. It resulted in social polarization and radicalization, secular and religious extremism, in which the majority of the Algerian people were victims, a political situation with no clear winners and no resolution in sight ** .” *

The problem with your post is that it puts the blame of ‘violence’ in the Muslim countries you’ve cited, strictly on Islam. * If you’d like I can go through each of your examples and show how certain interpretations of Islam are just one factor in a series of factors leading to human rights abuses in the Muslim world. And also that what you term ‘Muslim extremists’ face the same abuses as ‘secularists’ and ‘non-Muslims’ at the hands of those in power. * You should try to understand the development of Islamic fundamentalism, in terms of all factors involved - this will give you a better understanding of ‘human rights’ and possible solutions.

Achtung :wink:

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Thank you Achtung for your glorious defense of the killers and Extremist Islam gone mad!
The point remains:Almost 80,000 innocent people have been killed in the most gruesome way imaginable: throat-slit, beheadings, mutilation, etc; and, here is this guy-Achtung, attempting to deflect the blame on anything but the Extremist Islam.
What's got Achtung so worked up is the following paragraph from the thread:OUR KILLING FIELD.
Algeria: Fundamentalist muslims killing muslims seen as 'secularists'. Almost 80,000 or more muslims have been massacred by these groups of muslim fanatics practising a distoted & fanatic version of Islam.
The thread:OUR KILLING FIELD was originally started in the General section; please visit to view the comments of Achtung & his associate Mr.Xtreme. Please also visit the threads on:
1)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST WOMEN
2)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES-MIDDLE EAST
3)TALEBAN-IS THIS THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM?
The purpose of these threads are to:EDUCATE & INFORM.
Regards,
Abdulmalick

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Adbulmalick wrote:

Please also visit the threads on:
1)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST WOMEN
2)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES-MIDDLE EAST
3)TALEBAN-IS THIS THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM?
The purpose of these threads are to:EDUCATE & INFORM.<

How about getting yourself educated and informed, first ?

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AbdulMalick wrote

The point remains:Almost 80,000 innocent people have been killed in the most gruesome way imaginable: throat-slit, beheadings, mutilation, etc; and, here is this guy-Achtung, attempting to deflect the blame on anything but the Extremist Islam.<

AbdulMalick please don't let insanity prevail over your judgement. In your zeal to prove your ludicrous theory you have overlooked certain facts presented by Achtung, namely:

In fact the FIS won a majority in all major cities: 64.18 % in Algiers, 70.50 % in Oran, 72% in Constantine. The FLN only won 32% in municipalities and 29% in regional elections.<
I don't care whether the brand of Islam that FIS was supposed to enforce is contrary to your liking or not, people had voted in favor of it. Why then, your masters,the WEST, became jittery and engineered an illegal coup to topple the democratically elected Islamic government. This is the most flagrant case of power abuse perpetrated against muslims, Islam, democracy, you name it and your silence betrays hypocracy and self-interest. You are quick to point out violations of human rights in predominantly muslim countries against the minorities, yet you seem quite reticent when the victims are muslims suffering at the hands of christian imperialists. What does that make you. A self-serving, narrow-minded, obnoxiously cunning enemy of true Islam. If you had an atom's worth of sincerety and integrity, you would ask your self, who will benefit from these indiscriminate and unjustified killings most. Who controls the media in Algeria and the world over. Who will try to divert attention of the public from the tragedy that occurred in 1992 when your French-backed military usurped the right to vote from common Algerian people. Yes, indeed the hands of Algerian military are full of innocent blood. They are trying to attenuate the voter base of FIS in the rural areas by plotting these killings. I would question the wisdom why France or any other "ALLIED" country would write favorable reports depicting FIS as the victim and condemning the very military its in cahoots with. Please be objective in your response or rather refrain from posting another mindless post as you are so wont to do.

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Thank you brother Iqadeer for your response.
I agree with you that the Fundamentalists did win the last election and the Armed Forces did abrogate the results; HOWEVER, that does not give the Fundamentalists the right to go on a killing spree by sneaking into villages in middle of the night and beheading & slitting throats of innocent people and tiny babies.
I am impressed that Algeria matters to you since attrocities on a even larger scale are being perpetrated in Pakistan by the Fundamentalists and their para-military volunteer corps. I guess, if you were to speak out against the attrocities of the Sipah-i-Sabah that would make you a heretic.
Finally, if you or Achtung wishes to expose human rights abuses by Western countries, please feel free to do so. My purpose here is to inform & educate on the scourge of Islamic Fundamentalism.
Wa-salam,
Abdulmalick

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ADbulmaliCk,

In fact, there is considerable evidence that the slaughters in Algeria were carried out by the French-backed Government of Algeria. The same government which, with French backing, over-turned "Democracy". This has been reported extensively in the Observer newspaper, published on a Sunday with former Algerian Government troops giving their testimony. Can you comment on this please, as I have considerable independent sources to back up what I have said?

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Several field commanders of the ARMED ISLAMIC GROUP (GIA) had broken off last October to form their own armed group:APPEAL & STRUGGLE, because they wished to distance themselves from the massacres of civilians blamed on GIA.
I have read reports of Army's complicity in these massacres; however, there is irrefutable evidence that the Fundamentalists, among them Arabs who fought in the Afghanistan War, are responsible for this barbarism.

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AdbulMalick wrote: "...there is ** irrefutable ** evidence that the Fundamentalists, among them Arabs who fought in the Afghanistan War, are responsible for this barbarism."

If its so irrefutable, why won't the Algerian government allow international human rights groups and NGO's, along with the UN, inside Algeria to investigate these massacres?

  • "The Algerian authorities have steadfastly refused to cooperate with U.N. human rights bodies, such as the special rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial
    executions, who have sought to visit Algeria." (September 16, 1998, Human Rights Watch) *

  • The European Council, January 26, 1997 stated that "it “regretted” that Algeria “felt unable to provide unhindered access for international organisations, NGOs and the media.” (Human Rights Watch) *

Why are they so closed to international investigations, if they are innocent? The French newspaper Le Monde has written extensive articles on the Algerian governments failure to cooperate with international human rights groups and directly implicated the government in these massacres. The Algerian government has also banned all international organizations (including the UN) from meeting with members of the Islamic Salvation Front. Why do you think that is? Why don't they allow international organizations to meet the people they've labelled "criminals" responsible for these cowardly acts?

Maybe its because they are implicated, the UN seems to think so:

  • "In July 1998, the U.N. Human Rights Committee, after scrutinizing the [Algerian] government’s report and oral presentation on the state of civil and political rights covering 1992-98, ** delivered the most severe indictment ever by a U.N. body ** of Algeria’s human rights practices. The ** committee declared that it was “appalled at the widespread massacre of men, women and children in a great number of villages and towns,” and the sexual violence directed against women. It also expressed concern about the “lack of timely or preventive measures of protection to the victims [of massacres] from police or military officials in the vicinity and at the persistent allegations of collusion of members of the security forces in terrorist attacks”; at the “persistent allegations of systematic torture,” and at “the failure of the State to respond adequately, or indeed at all” to “disappearances.” ** The committee urged independent investigations into abuses and asked that “access be given as soon as possible to the ICRC and other independent observers.” (Human Rights Watch) *

Its odd that the security forces did not respond effectively, or in some cases "at all", don't you think? The United Nations, along with countless other NGOs seem to think so.

  • "On the one hand, ordinary civilians have been brutally slaughtered by armed groups, which have waged a campaign of terror and sexual violence against women and girls in particular," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the organization’s Middle East and North Africa division. "On the other hand, security forces have been implicated in torture, forced ‘disappearances,’ arbitrary killings, and extrajudicial executions on a scale that can only be characterized as ** systematic ** ." (August 31, 1998, Human Rights Watch) *

** Systematic ** killings at the hands of the Algerian government, the UN says. Interesting isn't it! There's more:

  • "...there is overwhelming evidence that the security forces are carrying out "disappearances." ** They are doing so on such a wide scale that the practice could persist only with the sanction of the highest levels of authority ** . While Algerian officials have admitted that persons have "gone missing" in state custody, Human Rights Watch is aware of no high-level acknowledgment that the practice of forcible disappearance is rampant and ongoing, nor of any efforts by the Algerian authorities to bring to justice those responsible." (Algerian - Neither Among the Living or the Dead) *

Grossly unfair trials resulted in 400 death sentences handed down to Islamists, in 1994 alone (Human Rights Abuses in Algeria - No One is Spared - HRW). Further, the Algerian government does not only kill civilians, it also kills its prisoners:

  • "The Algerian government covered up how approximately 100 inmates died during the suppression of an uprising at Serkadji prison in February 1995, the bloodiest incident during the first three years of civil strife in the country. Authorities violated the most basic norms for investigating extrajudicial killings: the dead were buried without autopsies; no truly independent panel was permitted to conduct an on-site investigation; and no specific explanations have been offered as to how the prisoners died." (Six Months Later, Cover-Up Continues in Prison Clash that Left 100 Inmates Dead - HRW 1995) *

Seems like you still don't have your facts right. The evidence you provide is definately not irefutable. I'm sure that if it was, the Algerian government wouldn't be so reluctant to allow international observers interview victims and conduct their own independent investigation.

Achtung ;)

"Algerians went to the polls on June 5, 1997 in the first parliamentary elections since the military-backed government canceled elections in January 1992. That measure, taken to prevent a victory by the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut, or FIS), plunged the country into endemic violence that continues today and has claimed more than 60,000 lives, most of them civilians." (Algeria - Elections in the Shadow of Violence and Repression)

[This message has been edited by Achtung (edited May 11, 1999).]

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Algerian junta linked to gruesome massacres, Paris bombings and killings of foreigners

By M A Shaikh in London

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Leading western newspapers have suddenly stumbled on the fact that it is indeed the Algerian junta - not the 'bloodthirsty Islamic extremists' routinely blamed by the regime and its western backers that is responsible for the horrendous massacres that have made the North African State a byword for violence.

New 'revelations' in the London-based Observer Sunday newspaper and Le Monde, the Parisian daily - quoting senior Algerian current and former security officers - accuse the generals of the murder of foreigners, as well as the 1995 Paris bombings, and of bribing European politicians and journalists to back them.

The charges will not come as a surprise to Muslimedia readers as the paper has over the years meticulously covered the Algerian conflict, exposing the role of the small gang of army offices - for whom 'president' Liamine Zeroual acts as a mere front - and their western supporters, not only in the massacres but also in the mismanagement and plunder of the country's resources.

In numerous editorials and reports, the paper has consistently claimed that the junta is orchestrating the violence in order to discredit the Islamic movement, and that western governments and media - aware of the facts on the ground - deliberately back the bloodthirsty gangsters in the grand interests of reversing Islamic revivalism in a region of vital strategic and economic importance.

But this is no reason for not welcoming the new coverage, which brings into the public domain information hitherto kept under wraps by those privy to it but now divulged by key members of the secret police, some of whom are seeking asylum in Britain. They even accuse the junta of helping the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Husain, to produce weapons of mass destruction.

The Observer published the first report on November 9, citing the testimony of a former member of the security police, now waiting, along with his wife and children, for political asylum in Britain. Code-named 'Joseph' by the paper, he served for 14 years as a member of Algeria's 'security militaire' until his defection to Britain. Clearly risking assassination for being so specific, he told the Observer:

  • The terrorist bombing of Parisian targets in 1995 were carried out by the Algerian secret service, though blamed on 'Islamic extremists', as part of a plot to inflame French public opinion against the Islamic movement.

  • Algerian and Iraqi intelligence are collaborating to hide material for Saddam's nuclear and chemical programme.

  • Secret military and police death squads are responsible for the genocide in the country.

  • The secret police and not Islamic activists, as claimed by the regime, organised the murder of most of the 100 foreigners murdered in Algeria - including the seven Italian seamen whose throats were cut in July 1994 while asleep on board the Italian ship Lucina at the port of Jenjen, 150 miles east of Algiers.

Joseph said Zeroual was a mere figurehead, naming two military officers as the real power in the land and ultimately responsible for the terror gripping the land. Muhammad Mediane, code-named 'Tewfik', and general Smain Lamari are, respectively, head of the Algerian secret service, Direction du Renseignement et de la Securite (DRS), and Direction Contre Espionage (DCE), a sub-division of the DRS.

According to Joseph, 'Zeroual is just the cherry on the cake, while Tewfik is much more and Smain is his enforcer.'

He told the Observer that the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which the regime and the west normally blame for the massacres, is the 'pure product of Smain's secret service.'

'I used to read all the secret telexes,' he is quoted as saying. 'I know that the GIA has been infiltrated and manipulated by the government. The GIA has been completely turned by the government.'

Joseph also gave specific information on how secret service agents, flown in from Algeria by Smain, organised the bombing raids in Paris in the summer of 1995 in which several people were killed. He even named colonel Souames Mahmoud, head of the secret service at the Algerian embassy in Paris, as the officer incharge of the operation.

He also confirmed what is an open secret in Algeria: that the 'securite militaire', which employed him, killed president Muhammad Boudiaf in June 1992. He should know because two of the killers were his colleagues. Fifteen junior officers, two of whom are now dead carried out the operation, he revealed.

According to Joseph, Boudiaf was assassinated because he had 'very sensitive files' on corrupt generals, who had stashed away millions of dollars in Swiss accounts, and began an investigation into the matter.

But some of the most remarkable revelations made by the former secret service agent relate how the Algerian junta has managed to corrupt European politicians, journalists and intelligence officials. Tewfik and Smain, Joseph told the Observer, have used the oil and gas wealth of the country to bribe them - claiming that he personally 'delivered a suitcase containing 500,000 francs to one French member of parliament with strong links to the French intelligence services.' The paper refuses to name the MP for legal reasons.

The 'killing machine', as Joseph calls the death squads, organised by Smain, are ruthlessly supervised to ensure that they faithfully carry out all orders to kill or torture. 'If anyone inside the killing machine hesitates to torture or kill, they are automatically killed,' he said. He is adamant that all the killings are traceable to the 'pouvoir', and that the FIS has nothing to do with them.

The day after Joseph's revelations were published in the Observer, Le Monde published its report, citing the evidence of an Algerian Secret Service officer still in Algeria. Code-named 'Hakim' in the Le Monde report, the officer confirmed Joseph's allegations - explaining that a group of Algerian officers had decided to inform the European media of the true facts of the Algerian civil war because it was impossible to organise a military coup.

'In Algeria everyone has blood on his or her hands,' Hakim said. 'We're ashamed of seeing people tortured.'

The revelations have set in motion a number of events. The British and French governments have predictably reacted by ordering their intelligence services to rubbish the allegations in both reports - according to a report in the Observer a week later. Western capitals, including Washington, are too heavily involved in the Algerian conflict on the side of the junta to encourage such reports.

But the Italian government appears to have believed the reports - re-opening the case of the killing of its seamen in Algeria in 1994, and demanding that Algiers name the guilty men.

When not blaming 'Islamic extremists', western officials and journalists usually argue that the Algerian situation is so complex that it is difficult to know who is doing what to whom. This flimsy pretext, which they used at the height of the Bosnian war to block any action designed to halt Serbian atrocities against Muslims, is even more transparent in the light of the new information and, more ominously, the revelations yet to be made by Algerian army officers, if Hakim is right.

Muslimedia: December 1-15, 1997

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Dear Moderator,
Could you please explain for my benefit your statement made on May 8 re: my threads on Human Rights Abuses in the Muslim Countries:
"How about getting yourself educated and informed, first" ?
Moderator: Your full post is produced below:

Adbulmalick wrote:

Please also visit the threads on:
1)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST WOMEN
2)HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES-MIDDLE EAST
3)TALEBAN-IS THIS THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM?
The purpose of these threads are to:EDUCATE & INFORM.<
How about getting yourself educated and informed, first ?

11

What part of "Get yourself educated and informed first" you did not understand ? Let me know. Thanks.