University lecturer; vice president of The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) and president of its Oran chapter, focusing on political and civil rights advocacy.
Four years of terrorism charges dismissed, but the travel ban, the summonses, and the threat of twenty years in prison had already done their work.HuMENA Editorial
University lecturer and vice-president of Algeria's League for the Defence of Human Rights, charged with terrorism offences for his work with the Hirak movement and acquitted after four years of judicial harassment.
Kaddour Chouicha is a university lecturer and long-standing human rights advocate based in Oran, Algeria's second-largest city. He serves as vice president of The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH), one of the country's oldest and most prominent civil society organisations, and as president of its Oran chapter. His work has focused on the promotion of political and civil rights, often in contexts where such advocacy exposes defenders to state reprisal. He has also held the position of national coordinator for the Union of Teachers in Solidarity, bridging educational labour rights with broader civic activism.
LADDH has documented arbitrary detention, torture, and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly across Algeria. Chouicha's leadership role placed him in direct contact with families of detained activists, journalists facing prosecution, and communities affected by police violence, particularly during the Hirak protest movement that began in 2019. His advocacy was institutional and methodical, grounded in legal documentation and public reporting.
On 29 April 2021, the Public Prosecutor of Oran charged Chouicha alongside fellow human rights defenders Jamila Loukil and Said Boudour, as well as twelve other activists associated with the Hirak movement. The charges included enrolment in a terrorist or subversive organisation active abroad or in Algeria; conspiracy against state security to incite citizens to take up arms against state authority or to undermine the integrity of the national territory; and propaganda likely to harm the national interest, of foreign origin or inspiration.
The charges carried a potential sentence of twenty years' imprisonment. No evidence of violent activity was presented. The case appeared designed to criminalise civic organising and cross-border human rights engagement. Prosecutors invoked Algeria's anti-terrorism legal framework, a tool increasingly applied to silence dissent in the wake of Hirak.
Chouicha was placed under a travel ban that remained in force throughout the proceedings. On 24 August 2022, border police at Oran International Airport prevented him and his wife Jamila Loukil from boarding a scheduled flight to Paris. Loukil, a journalist and woman human rights defender, had been invited by the United Nations to attend a Universal Periodic Review pre-session on Algeria in Geneva. The travel ban blocked both their departure, effectively silencing Algeria-based voices from international human rights forums.
On 5 September 2022, Chouicha, Loukil, and Boudour were summoned to appear for investigation before the investigative judge of the Fifth Chamber of the Specialized Criminal Court, the Department of Combating Terrorism and Transnational Crime, at the Sidi M'hamed Court in Algiers. The summons, scheduled for 7 September 2022 at 9:30 am, carried the risk of pre-trial detention. The hearing took place, but detention was not ordered. The case continued to move slowly through the judicial system, with verdicts repeatedly postponed.
On 26 February 2025, the Criminal Court of Appeals of the Algiers Judicial Council acquitted Chouicha, Loukil, and Boudour of all charges. The verdict followed four postponements and nearly four years of judicial proceedings. The acquittal closed a case that had served as a sustained mechanism of control, restricting movement, imposing psychological pressure, and deterring international engagement.
The terrorism charges were dismissed in their entirety. No apology was issued. No compensation was offered. Chouicha's travel ban was lifted, and he resumed his teaching and advocacy work, though the years of legal limbo had interrupted professional projects, strained family life, and curtailed his ability to participate in regional and international human rights networks.
This case file was compiled by HuMENA's Algeria research team from primary documentation, public filings, family-supplied legal documents, and confidential partner reporting. Editorial responsibility rests with the HuMENA Editorial Board. Where dates or facts are uncertain, the record errs on the side of the source material and notes uncertainty in the live archive at humena.org.
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