Dear friends,
You may remember that there were pogroms against women workers (internal economic migration) without a male guardian (a wali) in the South of Algeria – to be more precise, in Hassi Messaoud and in neighboring cities – in 2001. In case you don’t, look at the article i wrote at that time [1].
You should know that the victims one by one abandonned the idea that they could get justice: they received death threats even INSIDE the court,; by the perpetrators and their families and supporters... Only two were strong enough to go all the way. We briefly met them in Paris about two months ago, when they came to present a book that tells their story..
On Sunday morning, April 11, 2010, we got the news that very similar events were taking place, and tonight i just heard that new massacres had taken place to day – again. There is an urgent need to publicize the news, to send protest letters to the Algerian authorities and Embassies in your country, and to alert the Special Rapporteurs on Violence Against Women, Torture, and Extra-judicial Killings. Acting now may save some lives in the days to come: ten years ago, it did not stop for several days - this year it is already the second day it goes on.
Just to give you a sense of the fear in which people live, women’s organisations in Algiers, i.e. a thousand kilometers away from the site of the massacres, are going to meet to define a strategy, but they will keep the location secret till the last minute,... for fear of being attacked.
You can look at the news article [in French] that appeared in the Algerian press on Sunday the 11th [2]; there will for sure be another one tomorrow. It clearly states that the police is doing nothing.
Put pressure now please.
marieme