The state of health of the National Secretary of the Workers Party (PT), Louisa Hanoune incarcerated since May 9, has deteriorated significantly, according to a party executive, Ramdane Youcef Taazibt, a party executive.

The Political Bureau of the PT, reports Maghreb Emergent, will hold this June 08 meeting to discuss the political situation of the country in general and to discuss the Chanoune affair in particular.

The leader of the party kept in pretrial detention “suffers from several chronic diseases and has seen her state of health deteriorate very rapidly. She lost about seven pounds in four weeks. Louisa Hanoune’s lawyers and her family have expressed concern about her health, “said Taazibt. He added that the political bureau of the PT will take steps to demand her release as soon as possible.

(Translated from the HuffPo Maghreb French to English)

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L’état de santé de la secrétaire nationale du Parti des travailleurs (PT), Louisa Hanoune incarcérée depuis le 09 mai dernier, s’est sensiblement détérioré, selon un cadre du parti, Ramdane Youcef Taazibt, un cadre du parti.

Le Bureau politique du PT, rapporte Maghreb Emergent, tiendra ce 08 juin une réunion pour discuter la situation politique du pays en général et pour parler de l’affaire de Hanoune en particulier.

La chef du parti maintenue en détention provisoire “souffre de plusieurs maladies chroniques et a vu son état de santé se détériorer très rapidement. Elle a perdu environ sept kilos en quatre semaines. Ses avocats et sa famille ont exprimé leur inquiétude par rapport à son état de santé”, a précisé M. Taazibt. Il a également ajouté que le bureau politique du PT prendra des mesures pour exiger sa libération dans les plus brefs délais.

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Free Louisa Hanoune!

On Thursday, May 9, Louisa Hanoune, General Secretary of the Algerian Workers Party (PT), was called before the military tribunal of Blida as a witness in the scope of an inquiry against Saïd Bouteflika – brother of the deposed President – as well as of two former heads of the secret police, Mohamed Mediene (alias “Toufik”) and Athmane Tartag alias “Bashir”. However, she was then placed in preventive detention accused of being somehow involved in “attacks on the authority of the army” and “conspiracy against the authority of the state.” This arbitrary arrest is a direct attack on the rights of millions of people who have demonstrated in recent weeks and presages a hardening of the military power. The League for the Fourth International demands that Louisa Hanoune be immediately released!

To be sure: the social democratic reformists of the PT have often enough been bootlickers for the generals, and Hanoune herself has rubbed elbows with all manner of unsavory elements – not only the Bouteflika gang, but also high officials of the International Monetary Fund and the Islamic reactionaries of the FIS! But the PT is now attempting to distance itself from Bouteflika and have workers believe that the corporatist UGTA federation can become a veritable organ of the working class.

General Gaïd Salah’s very selective arrests of supporters of the regime, of which the general was one of the main props for 15 years, are cosmetic measures to reinforce the “system.” Of course, anyone opposed to the hurried presidential elections slated for July 4 and organized by other Bouteflika cronies can and will be accused of “attacking the authority of the state.”

Moreover, on May 4, Hanoune rejected the army high command’s offer of “dialogue,” recalling how General Al Sissi in Egypt called for dialogue with “civil society” before and after he overthrew the president Morsi, and then arrested members of political parties who had supported him. She pointed as well to Sudan, where the army took power amid popular protests and installed a transition council to last for two years (El Watan, 5 May). Shortly after her speech, the orders were given summoning her to the military tribunal. The arrest of Hanoune is thus a threat against the entire left and working class.

After the police attacks on workers in Algiers on May Day and after mass protests against the regime have continued across the country for the 12th consecutive Friday, there is the danger of massive military repression. The Algerian masses need an authentic leftist working class leadership that combats the illusions being spread about winning the officer corps to a peaceful “revolution.”

From Four Years Ago – DailyMotion Video