Montreal resident Ammar Lakehal’s worst fears have come true: His son has been sentenced to five years of imprisonment in Algeria.
Lakehal, who has long campaigned for the creation of an independent state in Kabylia, a Berber-speaking region of Algeria, believes the court convicted Massinissa Lakehal over their ties.
Lakehal denounced his son’s arrest last July, and said he’s angered by the prison sentence.
“I am of a peaceful nature. All my life I have often taken things on the positive side. But now, I have an anger that cannot be measured,” he told Radio-Canada in French.
“I have a feeling I can’t describe. It resembles shame for all those judges, for that country that condemns innocent people.”
Many Canadians of Kabyle origin say they’re victims of intimidation and spying by the Algerian authorities, as reported by Radio-Canada/CBC in June.
Ammar Lakehal, a Canadian citizen of Kabyle origin, was a longtime member of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK). He served as the group’s president of co-ordination for North America from 2018 to 2023.
Algeria declared the MAK a terrorist entity in 2021, and anyone associated with the group risks imprisonment. Neither Canada nor the United States consider the MAK a terrorist organization.
According to Lakehal, his son is also sympathetic to the independence movement and has publicly denounced the incarceration of political detainees, but is not an MAK member.
Trip to Canada held against son
Detained since his arrest on July 27, Massinissa Lakehal appeared in court Dec. 1. He was found guilty of a series of crimes including undermining national unity, inciting hatred and promoting terrorism.
A trip to Canada to visit his father in 2019 and messages exchanged between the two on social networks were used as evidence against him.
Ammar Lakehal accuses the Algerian authorities of imprisoning his son to punish him for his own political activism. (Facebook)
The Algerian court also blamed him for publishing photos of political prisoners and for contacting Amnesty International to ask the organization to look into human rights violations against the Kabyles.
“He is in prison because he is Kabyle and because he is my son,” Ammar Lakehal said.
Sources in Algeria confirm that the father is the main target of the Algerian authorities. The Algerian embassy in Ottawa did not respond to Radio-Canada’s request for comment.
Algeria’s embassy on Wilbrod Street in Ottawa’s Sandy Hill neighbourhood. (Simon Lasalle/Radio-Canada)
Threatening relatives of activists is a common tactic used by “autocratic regimes” to silence them, according to Phil Gurski, a former senior strategic analyst with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
These foreign governments “identify people who say and do things that are not in their interests or that are embarrassing on the world stage, and try to stop this from happening. They do this through harassing people and threatening them and their families,” he said.
Minister refuses to comment
Ammar Lakehal said he also feels deep “indignation” toward the Trudeau government for its inaction on the persecution of Kabyle people.
The office of Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly would not comment on Massinissa Lakehal’s prison sentence.
A few years ago, Massinissa Lakehal spoke at a gathering in solidarity with Kabyle detainees. Today, he’s the one behind bars. (Facebook)
When Lakehal immigrated to Canada, his son stayed in Algeria and has never held Canadian citizenship.
Following his arrest, Global Affairs Canada told Radio-Canada that long-standing bilateral relations with Algeria allowed the department “to engage in discussions with the Algerian government on issues of importance to Canada, including human rights.”
That was a different response than the one the prime minister’s office offered Ammar Lakehal in August.
“I understand that your son is not a Canadian citizen. You will therefore understand that Mr. Trudeau cannot get involved in a matter that concerns the administration of a foreign country with regard to its citizens,” the office wrote at the time.
But Ammar Lakehal rejects that response.
“There is this human side that is missing. Are they aware that we are talking about a man who is deprived of his rights?” he asked, urging the Canadian government not to “bow down to Algeria’s lack of respect for human rights.”
“I ask for the right to a fair trial for my son, as well as for all Kabyle detainees,” he said.