Emblematic figure of Hirak in Algeria, Karim Tabbou was arrested after being indignant, via Facebook, in reaction to the death of Hakim Debbazi in prison following his arrest, too, for the publication of anti-Algerian regime posts on the same social network.
Karim Tabbou is added to the 300 political detainees who are thrown into Algerian prisons in connection with the Hirak or the defense of individual freedoms, according to a recent estimate by the Algerian National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).
Aged 51, the new prisoner of conscience is the leader of the Democratic and Social Union (UDS), an opposition party not authorized by the Algerian regime. A fervent protester within Hirak, he was arrested on Friday evening, April 29, 2022, at his home, according to various Algerian human rights organizations.
His imprisonment came three days after his publication on Facebook denouncing the death in prison of Hakim Debbazi. The latter, writes Tabbou, passed away in the prison of Koléa and was buried yesterday, Thursday April 28, in the cemetery of Hadjout (western Algeria). “He left prison hell for heavenly paradise,” he comments in his column, which began with this sentence: “Physically dead, the martyrs of just causes are more than alive.”
Karim Tabbou thus tells the sad story of Hakim Debbazi, 55 years old. “He was a child of the people, a modest and humble citizen, father of three children who had committed body and soul to the Hirak. Very quickly, he took on his frail shoulders, all the weight of the demands expressed in the Hirak where he became one of the main leaders in his locality.
Aware of the pangs of misery that power made the population endure, he wanted and he believed in change. On April 18, he died in Koléa prison where he was arbitrarily imprisoned on false pretexts. Authorities told his family that Hakim died of “cardiac arrest due to severe respiratory impairment.”
Of course the power remains and will remain the one and only responsible for his death. He will answer tomorrow for all these turpitudes and crimes.
Tabbou warns that the shadow of Debbazi, even dead, will haunt the minds of all those who directly or indirectly caused this tragic disappearance. He adds: “Yesterday, in Hadjout, his hometown, many of them accompanied him to his final resting place. Emotion, compassion, pain and fury could be read on the faces, except for these ”pseudo photographers” who took photos not to immortalize this sad event but to spy on and track the militants present. In fact, these pseudo photographers were special envoys!”.
The head of the UDS says that once again, the proof is given that the power is on the lookout. “He feels threatened, he is afraid of the citizen in the street, in the workplace and even in cemeteries”.
Tabbou launches at the end of his pamphlet this warning which must have shaken the walls of the palace of El Mouradia: “Let us keep the sense of his sacrifice, let us remain constant and continue our fight for the advent of a State of Law . Rest in peace Hakim, your fight will not be in vain”.
A few hours after this publication went online, the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH) announced Tabbou’s arrest. “Stop the instrumentalization of justice, opinion is not a crime”, reacted the CNLD on Facebook.
Karim Tabbou was already arrested and sentenced in March 2020. He had already served a one-year prison sentence for “undermining national security”, due to a video on his party’s Facebook page where he criticized the military interference in political affairs.
The case of this activist shows that repression does not change the determination of Algerian activists in their fight for the advent of a “civil state” instead of the “military state” in place. A new revolt is already taking place via social networks.