CCPR/C/128/D/2819/2016 3.4 The author recalls the developments in the Committee’s jurisprudence regarding enforced disappearance and considers that the mere risk or danger of loss of life in the context of enforced disappearance is enough to justify finding a direct violation of article 6 of the Covenant. She recalls the facts surrounding the disappearance of her son and considers that the chances of finding him are shrinking by the day, and either that her son has lost his life or that he is being held in incommunicado detention, which would constitute a very high risk to his life, since he would be at the mercy of his jailers, beyond oversight of any kind. The author therefore considers that the State party has failed to meet its obligation to protect the right to life of Abdelhakim Houari and to investigate what happened to him, in violation of article 6 (1) of the Covenant. 3.5 Recalling the circumstances of her son’s disappearance, namely the total lack of information on his possible detention or imprisonment or on his state of health, and the lack of communication with his family or the outside world, the author contends that Abdelhakim Houari was subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Referring to the Committee’s jurisprudence, the author notes that the anguish, uncertainty and distress caused to the family of Abdelhakim Houari as a result of his disappearance constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Consequently, the author claims that the State party has committed a violation of article 7 of the Covenant in respect of Abdelhakim Houari and a violation of article 7, read in conjunction with article 2 (3), in respect of his family. 3.6 Recalling that article 9 of the Covenant establishes the right of everyone to liberty and security of person and also prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, the author considers that the arrest and detention of Abdelhakim Houari constitute an arbitrary deprivation of his liberty and security. She therefore considers that her son was deprived of the safeguards described in article 9 of the Covenant, which amounts to a violation of his rights under the article in question. 3.7 Recalling the provisions of article 10 of the Covenant, the author also argues that, in the absence of any investigation by the Algerian authorities, Abdelhakim Houari was deprived of his liberty and was not treated with humanity and dignity, which amounts to a violation of his rights under the article concerned. 3.8 Recalling the provisions of article 14 of the Covenant and paragraph 9 of the Committee’s general comment No. 32 (2007) on the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial, the author notes that all attempts to bring the case before the judicial authorities have proved fruitless. The police provided her with a death certificate indicating that her son had died in the maquis, having joined the ranks of the terrorists, even though she had gathered all the relevant evidence proving that he had been arrested by police officers on 13 November 1995. Furthermore, the prosecutor attached to the Oran court of first instance summoned the author and urged her to sign the death certificate, despite having acknowledged that it was the result of a clerical error by the judicial administration, and did not order any new investigation or proceedings in connection with this glaring error. The State party has therefore violated article 14 of the Covenant in respect of the author. 3.9 The author then recalls the provisions of article 16 of the Covenant and the Committee’s established jurisprudence, according to which the intentional removal of a person from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time may constitute a refusal of recognition as a person before the law if the victim was in the hands of the State authorities when last seen, and if the efforts of relatives to obtain access to effective remedies, including judicial remedies, have been systematically impeded. She refers in this regard to the Committee’s concluding observations on the second periodic report of Algeria under article 40 of the Covenant,14 in which the Committee established that disappeared individuals who were still alive and kept incommunicado suffered a violation of their right to recognition as persons before the law, enshrined in article 16 of the Covenant. She therefore asserts that, by keeping Abdelhakim Houari in detention without acknowledging it, the Algerian authorities have denied her son the protection of the law and have deprived him of his right to recognition as a person before the law, in violation of article 16 of the Covenant. 14 GE.20-12768 CCPR/C/79/Add.95, para. 10. 5