Zakaria
Hannache

Background and Work

Zaki Hannache worked as a human rights monitor in Algeria during a period of escalating repression. After the Hirak protest movement emerged in February 2019, calling for political reform and an end to entrenched power structures, Hannache focused his efforts on documenting the state's response to demonstrators. He collected information on arrests, verified accounts of detention, and maintained records of who had been taken into custody for participating in protests.

Hannache also documented the cases of human rights defenders who had been sentenced to prison terms. He advocated publicly for their release and worked to ensure that their cases remained visible. His documentation work took place during a period when Algerian authorities intensified prosecutions of activists, journalists, and monitors associated with the Hirak movement or critical of the government.

The Arrest

On 18 February 2022, around 4 PM, four plain-clothes officers arrived at Hannache's home in Cherarba, a district in the Algiers governorate. The officers searched the premises and confiscated his mobile phone. Hannache was placed in custody and held without access to legal counsel during the initial days of his detention.

On 24 February 2022, Hannache was brought before an investigative judge. He was formally charged with "praising terrorism," "receiving funds from an institution inside or outside the country," and "undermining state security." The charges stemmed from his human rights documentation work. Under Algerian law, the combined maximum penalties for these charges range from thirty-five years' imprisonment to life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Detention and Provisional Release

Hannache remained in pre-trial detention for six weeks. He was held without trial while the investigation proceeded. On 30 March 2022, he was released provisionally on bail. The release was conditional. Under the terms, he could be re-arrested at any time pending the outcome of the judicial proceedings.

The provisional release does not close the case. Hannache remained subject to the charges filed in February 2022. On 16 November 2022 the investigating judge dropped the terrorism charge; the prosecutor challenged that decision. The documentation work he carried out, the collection and verification of arrest records, has been recharacterized by the prosecution as evidence of criminal activity.

Legal Context

The charges brought against Hannache reflect a broader pattern of judicial harassment targeting monitors and defenders in Algeria. The invocation of terrorism-related statutes against individuals engaged in documentation and advocacy has been documented in multiple cases since 2019. The charges of "praising terrorism" and "undermining state security" are frequently applied to defenders whose work involves documenting state conduct or expressing criticism of government policy.

The charge of "receiving funds from an institution inside or outside the country" is commonly used in cases where defenders have received grants or support from international organizations or foreign donors. Algerian law criminalizes certain categories of foreign funding for civil society organizations and individuals, and prosecutors have used these provisions to target human rights work that relies on external financial support.

International and Domestic Context

Hannache's arrest took place during a wave of prosecutions targeting defenders and monitors associated with the Hirak movement. In the same week, human rights defender Faleh Hammoudi, head of the Tlemcen office of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment within the space of forty-eight hours. Hammoudi's case and Hannache's arrest were part of a coordinated escalation in February 2022.

The provisional release of Hannache in March 2022 did not signal an end to the legal proceedings or a withdrawal of charges. The conditional nature of the release leaves him in a state of juridical uncertainty. In August 2022 he left Algeria for Tunisia. On 2 March 2023 he learned that the Sidi M'hamed court in Algiers had sentenced him in absentia to three years in prison. On 19 December 2023 he was resettled in Canada after UNHCR recognised him as a refugee, and he continues his documentation work from exile.