CCPR/C/130/D/2843/2016 family and friends have not heard from him in over 20 years. Their chances of finding him alive are slim. His death may have occurred in detention, as a result of torture or extrajudicial execution. Sadek Rsiwi’s detention should have been recorded in a register, in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure. These factors, taken together with the absence of an investigation, are proof of the State party’s failure to comply with its obligations and constitute a violation of article 6 (1) of the Covenant. 3.3 The author recalls the absolute and non-derogable nature of the right not to be subjected to acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Incommunicado detention systematically creates an environment conducive to torture, insofar as the person is outside the protection of the law. According to the Committee’s jurisprudence, such a practice may in itself constitute a violation of article 7 of the Covenant. The author points to the State party’s obligation to conduct an investigation as soon as an allegation of incommunicado detention is made or brought to its attention. The Committee has previously emphasized that amnesty laws are generally incompatible with the duty of States to investigate and to punish any person responsible for incommunicado detention. 7 The author claims that, in the absence of registration or any other procedure made known to the family, the detention of Sadek Rsiwi has been incommunicado for over 20 years. During this period, which began on 18 March 1996, his family have been unable to communicate with him. The impossibility of communicating with the outside world, an inherent characteristic of incommunicado detention, results in immense psychological suffering for the detainee serious enough to fall within the scope of article 7 of the Covenant. The author thus argues that Sadek Rsiwi is the victim of a violation of article 7. With regard to Sadek Rsiwi’s family, the anguish, distress and uncertainty caused by the disappearance, the authorities’ denials and the absence of an inquiry over a period of more than 20 years constitute inhuman treatment and, consequently, a violation of article 7, read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (3) of the Covenant. 3.4 The author also points out that the right to liberty and security of person, as recognized under article 9 of the Covenant, prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and imposes on the State party a number of procedural guarantees. She alleges that her husband is the victim of violations by the State party of article 9 of the Covenant, specifically: (a) paragraph 1, as he was the victim of an arbitrary deprivation of liberty by the military police; (b) paragraph 2, as the agents who arrested him did so without communicating the reasons for the arrest or presenting a warrant and he did not receive official notification following his arrest; (c) paragraph 3, as he was not brought before a competent judge after his arrest, nor tried or released, and 20 years have passed since his arrest, far exceeding the maximum period of 12 days of pretrial detention prescribed in the Code of Criminal Procedure for terrorism-related offences; and (d) paragraph 4, as he was removed from the protection of the law and was thus unable to challenge the legality of his detention. 3.5 The author also points to the fundamental and universal principle according to which all persons deprived of their liberty must be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person set out in article 10 (1) of the Covenant. Sadek Rsiwi has been deprived of all contact with the outside world since his transfer from Ghardaïa to an unknown place of detention. Incommunicado detention is not only likely to cause the detainee suffering serious enough to qualify as torture, but also encourages the commission of inhuman acts. Insofar as Sadek Rsiwi was subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of article 7 of the Covenant, he was, by extension, the victim of a violation of article 10 (1), as the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment was by nature incompatible with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. 3.6 The author also recalls that everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law. In this connection, she refers to the Committee’s concluding observations on the second periodic report of Algeria under article 40 of the Covenant, 8 in which the Committee established that disappeared individuals who are still alive and are being detained incommunicado were suffering a violation of their right to recognition as persons before the law, as enshrined in article 16 of the Covenant. Consequently, the incommunicado detention 7 8 4 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 20 (1992), para. 15. CCPR/C/79/Add.95, para. 10. GE.21-03102