Algeria’s Union: Pressures and Outside Interference Affect Judges’ Duties

Judges and prosecutors take part in a protest to demand the independence of the judiciary in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
Judges and prosecutors take part in a protest to demand the independence of the judiciary in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
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Algeria’s Union: Pressures and Outside Interference Affect Judges’ Duties

Judges and prosecutors take part in a protest to demand the independence of the judiciary in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
Judges and prosecutors take part in a protest to demand the independence of the judiciary in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)

Algeria's National Union of Judges said that thousands of its members are being pressured and abused, that negatively affecting their duties and the integrity of their rulings.

The Union issued a statement expressing strong dissatisfaction in excluding it from the government’s drafting process of the recent amendments to the criminal law, which stipulated tougher penalties against false news promoters.

The statement also addressed recent injustice and arbitrariness against the “best people of this country", a hint at influential bodies interfering with the work of the judges regarding major cases submitted for adjudication. Some judges were even punished for refusing to yield to political pressures.

The Union criticized the ongoing imprisonment of two judges, saying it is "an act of retaliation" by the Justice Minister, Belkacem Zghemat, for the union’s October strike.

The minister accused one of the imprisoned judges of providing critical judicial information to an opposition figure in Europe, Amir Boukhors, however, the union declined such claims and assured the judge was innocent.

Authorities say Boukhors interfered in the affairs of the army, intelligence, and senior officials in the country.

The statement also addressed the controversial issue of the criminal law, after authorities wanted to add new articles stipulating imprisonment for a period of up to 3 years against those spreading false news.

The amendment of the law came after several leaders questioned the validity of the figures the government is announcing on coronavirus cases and deaths.

The union said the articles of the law “are weak” and did not clearly specify what constitutes false news. It considered the law a blatant transgression of the principle of criminal legitimacy, which requires accurately identifying criminal acts to protect individual freedoms and rights.

In related news, several judges are facing charges of submitting to the dictations of the authorities in connection with the imprisonment of dozens of activists, politicians, and journalists, namely Karim Tabbou, Khaled Drareni, Samir Belarbi, and Suleiman Hamitouche.

In February 2019, judges supported the protests, however, they withdrew from the marches when former army chief, Ahmed Qaid Saleh, rejected the demand for comprehensive change for which the protesters were calling.

The Union demanded to change the Justice Minister in the new cabinet after the presidential elections last year, but President Abdelmadjid Tebboune kept him contrary to the expectations of the observers.

The Union also wanted to ensure the independence of the judiciary by removing the President and Justice Minister from the Supreme Judicial Council. This is supposed to be included in the constitution amendment before the end of this year.



Israeli Strike Kills Children Near Gaza Clinic with No Immediate Truce in Sight

 A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strike Kills Children Near Gaza Clinic with No Immediate Truce in Sight

 A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)

An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical center in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected.

Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showed the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming. One clip showed several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.

"She didn't do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school," said Samah al-Nouri, sitting by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast.

"She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?" she said, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.

Israel's military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.

US-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic. "Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore," the aid group said in a statement.

The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another one or two weeks, however, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.

"I think we're closer, and I think perhaps we're closer than we've been in quite a while," Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.

Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave's few remaining hospitals.

Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including to incubators at the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.

"We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies were now in a critical condition.

An Israeli military official said that fuel destined for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities was let into the enclave on Wednesday and on Thursday.

However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that far more fuel was needed to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining services operating.

TALKS

US President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to discuss the situation in Gaza amid reports that Israel and Hamas were nearing agreement on a US-brokered ceasefire proposal after 21 months of war.

Netanyahu said that if the two sides reach agreements on the US 60-day truce plan, Israel will begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.

In a statement from Washington, he reiterated Israel's terms for ending the war, including Hamas disarming and no longer ruling Gaza. Hamas has rejected calls to lay down its weapons.

"If this can be achieved through negotiations - that's good. If it's not achieved through 60-day negotiations then we will achieve it by other means, by use of force," Netanyahu said.

A Palestinian official said the talks in Qatar were in crisis and that issues under dispute, including whether Israel would continue to occupy parts of Gaza after a ceasefire, had yet to be resolved.

The two sides previously agreed a ceasefire in January, but it did not lead to a deal on ending the war and Israel resumed its military assault two months later, stopping all aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks and telling civilians to leave the north of the tiny territory.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 57,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swathes of the territory and driven most Gazans from their homes.

The Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that triggered the war in 2023 killed around 1,200 people and the group seized 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. At least 20 are believed to still be alive.

There has also been repeated violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Israeli man was killed at a shopping center in the territory on Thursday by two Palestinian gunmen, who were then shot dead, police said.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was shot dead after he stabbed and injured a soldier, the army said.