CCPR/C/121/D/2283/2013 represents a high risk of violation of his right to life. His detention should have been registered, in accordance with the Algerian Code of Criminal Procedure. These factors, taken together with the absence of an investigation, are proof of the State party’s failure to carry out its obligations and constitute a violation of article 6 (1) read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (3). 3.4 The author then points out 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. He argues that incommunicado detention systematically creates an environment conducive to torture, insofar as the person is outside the reach of the law. He points to the Committee’s jurisprudence, according to which such a practice may in itself constitute a violation of article 7 of the Covenant. He points out that the State party is obliged: (a) to prevent such violations and punish those responsible; (b) to take measures against incommunicado detention, such as the registration of detainees or provision of access to a lawyer; and (c) to conduct an investigation as soon as an allegation of incommunicado detention is made or brought to its attention. In this regard, the author points out that Ordinance No. 06-01 is at variance with the obligation to carry out an investigation. The author affirms that his father, with no knowledge of the reasons for his arrest or his maintenance in detention, and without being registered in any register, was, or has continued for the past 17 years to be, in incommunicado detention, completely cut off from the outside world. The author alleges that: (a) the incommunicado detention is attributable to the State party; (b) the State party has taken no steps to stop or remedy the situation of incommunicado detention; and (c) the rejection of the case by the investigating judge at the Taher court amounts to a denial of justice. He thus argues that Mahmoud Boudjema is a victim of a violation of article 7. With regard to the family, the author alleges that the anguish, distress and uncertainty caused by the authorities’ denials and the absence of an inquiry over a period of 17 years constitute inhuman treatment and are a violation of article 7, read in conjunction with article 2 (3). 3.5 The author then 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 a number of procedural guarantees. He alleges that Mahmoud Boudjema is a victim of a violation by the State party of articles: (a) 9 (1), as he was a victim of arbitrary deprivation of liberty; (b) 9 (2), as the soldiers who arrested him did so without communicating the reasons for the arrest or presenting a warrant, and it is likely that he never received an official notification after his arrest; (c) 9 (3), as under the Code of Criminal Procedure, if he was a person suspected of acts of terrorism, he should have been held in pretrial detention for a maximum period of 12 days; and (d) 9 (4), as he was removed from the protection of the law and was never able to challenge the legality of his detention. 3.6 The author then points to the fundamental and universal principle according to which “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”, as set out in article 10 (1) of the Covenant. He argues that, insofar as Mahmoud Boudjema was subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of article 7 of the Covenant, he was all the more so a victim of a violation of article 10 (1), as the inhuman or degrading treatment was by nature incompatible with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. 3.7 The author also recalls that everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law. He refers to the concluding observations on the second periodic report of Algeria under article 40 of the Covenant, 1 in which the Committee established that disappeared individuals who are still alive and kept incommunicado have their right to recognition as persons before the law, enshrined in article 16 of the Covenant, violated. He thus argues that the incommunicado detention of Mahmoud Boudjema constitutes a violation of article 16 of the Covenant, attributable to the State party. 3.8 The author, recalling that article 17 of the Covenant protects persons against any arbitrary or unlawful interference in their privacy, home or correspondence, and citing the 1 4 See CCPR/C/79/Add.95, para. 10. GE.17-21416