Raouf Farrah, his wife Lara Pocock and their daughter Célia Nedjma who is four now.Courtesy of family/Handout
A Canadian researcher has been imprisoned for the past 100 days in Algeria on charges of spreading secret information, amid a widening crackdown on independent organizations in the country.
Raouf Farrah, a senior analyst at the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, was jailed on Feb. 20 during a wave of arrests after the escape of Amira Bouraoui, a prominent Algerian journalist and activist who defied a travel ban and fled to France.
Mr. Farrah’s 67-year-old father, Sebti, was arrested on the same day as him, and accused of receiving funds for “acts that would disturb the public peace.” Sebti’s health declined dramatically in prison, his family said, and he was released on bail in April.
Mr. Farrah’s family and colleagues are pleading for his release from Boussouf prison, in the city of Constantine in northeastern Algeria. His bail requests have been rejected, and no trial date has been set.
“We are living in a constant state of anxiety, brought on by the pain of this brutal separation,” his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Raouf is sorely missed, and his absence affects us greatly,” they said. “Since his arrest, the entire family has been living with much stress and a strong sense of injustice … We are only allowed to visit Raouf for 20 minutes every 15 days at the prison.”
Global Affairs Canada said it can’t provide any details of Mr. Farrah’s case for privacy reasons. The department “is aware of a Canadian citizen detained in Algeria,” spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod told The Globe and Mail. “Canadian officials are providing consular assistance.”
Mr. Farrah, 36, was born in Algeria and immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 18. He completed a degree in mathematics at the University of Montreal and a separate degree in philosophy and political science at the same institution.
Later he obtained a master’s degree in globalization and international development at the University of Ottawa, where he was nominated for the Governor-General’s Gold Medal and was awarded the Dean’s Future Leaders prize. He has written for publications in France and Africa, including Le Monde and Jeune Afrique.
“He is undoubtedly one of the best, most intelligent students I have had in more than 20 years of teaching,” said Rita Abrahamsen, director of the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa, who taught him in two classes and supervised his thesis on the politics of human trafficking in the Sahel region of Africa.
“He is deeply committed to the future of Algeria, and for all of us who know him his imprisonment is heartbreaking,” Prof. Abrahamsen added.
“Raouf does not belong in prison. It has already been far too long, and he should be released immediately and allowed a fair trial to clear his name. I have no doubt that, given the opportunity, he will do so.”
Mark Shaw, director of the Global Initiative, where Mr. Farrah works, said he is confident that Mr. Farrah and his father will both clear their names. Mr. Farrah is an internationally recognized researcher whose work is distributed transparently for public benefit, contributing to the fight against organized crime, Mr. Shaw said.
“His research for the Global Initiative has been invaluable in helping to build global insight into organized crime in North Africa and the Sahel,” Mr. Shaw added.
The Algerian government has not commented publicly on the case. But it has taken increasingly harsh action against political activists in recent years, following mass street protests in 2019 and 2020 that led to the army’s ousting of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. This year the government shut down the country’s oldest independent rights group, the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
Mr. Farrah and his father were among a number of people arrested in an investigation after Ms. Bouraoui’s escape. She had been a leader of protests against Mr. Bouteflika for years. In 2020, she was sentenced to a year in prison for “offending Islam” and “insulting the president.” When she was released, she was ordered to remain in the country, but managed to flee.
Geoffrey York