Zaki Hannache

Zakaria "Zaki" Hannache (; born 1987) is an Algerian human rights activist who rose to prominence in 2019 due to his documentation of human rights abuses by the Algerian government against members of the Hirak movement. In 2022, after being charged with multiple offences including undermining state security, Hannache sought asylum in Tunisia, before settling in Canada in 2023, where he continues his activism in exile.

Personal life Hannache was born in Béjaïa, Béjaïa Province, Algeria, into an Amazigh family. Prior to the Hirak movement, he was an industrial technician working for the state-owned electricity and natural gas company Sonelgaz and living in Algiers. Hannache described himself as this time as being "apolitical" and focused on getting married and moving abroad.

Activism On 16 February 2019, a peaceful march was organised in Algiers to protest the then-President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika's recent announcement of his plan to run for a fifth presidential term. Subsequent protests across the country led to Bouteflika announcing his immediate resignation on 2 April 2019; the protests continued to occur, primarily on Fridays, with protestors calling for a complete overhaul of Algeria's political system.

Hannache had not taken part in the initial marches, but subsequently joined an ad hoc monitoring group that collected, verified, and documented information pertaining to the arrests of people taking part in the Hirak protests. Utilising Facebook and online messaging, Hannache also publicly advocated for the rights and releases of detained activists, and became a trusted source for their families and lawyers, often disseminating information to international groups and organisations including the United Nations.

Arrest and trial On 15 February 2022, Hannache gave an interview with Jeune Afrique in which he disputed Bouteflika's successor, Abdelmadjid Tebboune's claim that there were no prisoners of conscience in Algeria, presenting his own research that had identified 340 such prisoners in the country as of 9 February. Three days later, on 18 February, Hannache was arrested by plainclothes police officers at his home in Cherarba, Algiers. Hannache was placed into police custody, while warrants were obtained to search his home and seize his phone.

Hannache's arrest occurred at the same time as the arrest of another prominent activist, Faleh Hammoudi from the Tlemcen office of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights, who had been arrested two days after Hannache, and who similarly had been taken into custody and had his home searched and phone seized.

Exile In August 2022, Hannache left Algeria for Tunisia on medical grounds, that had been granted. During his time in Tunisia, Hannache continued to report on human rights abuses in Algeria, including the arrests of journalists and activists and the closures of human rights organisations, while living in hiding in Tunis, moving an estimated 11 times to avoid detection from Algerian authorities. Hannache expressed his concern about his safety in Tunisia, citing the case of Slimane Bouhafs, a fellow Algerian activist with refugee status in Tunisia who had disappeared in 2021, before surfacing in 2022 in custody in Algeria following a case of refoulement by Tunisian authorities. Hannache reported that on at least two occasions, Algerian police officers had been searching for him in Tunis. At the same time, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders expressed their "serious concerns" for Hannache's charges, stating they appeared to be linked to his human rights activism.