By Louiza Kadri

Algeria records daily more than one case of rape of women aged 15 to 45 years, who are forced into sexual intercourse and then killed, beaten or incited to suicide.

It's been two years since the Salhi family left their home and moved to the Al-Kures area from Biskra, in an attempt to forget the tragedy that had happened to their daughter, a 20-year-old Hafida Salhi (Abeer), who was killed by a neighbor, Al-Omari Saeed.

The crime happened on February 26, 2018, when  the student Abeer was returning to her home in Biskra, east of Algeria, after completing her studies at the university where she majored in the French language. At 3 PM, when she entered a building, her neighbor Saeed Al-Omari, 34 years old, a construction worker, misused the absence of his family from the house and forced Abeer to enter his house and closed the door, after assaulting her, he killed her by hanging and cut her body in half with the iron cutting machine.

After three hours, when the murderer's family returned home and discovered the crime, they helped their son divide the lower part of the girl's body into small parts, he put each part in a rubbish bag, and disposed of it in different districts of the city.

Abeer’s disappearance made her family call the police, however, at that time a phone call head already reached the police headquarters informing that the top of the body of an unidentified girl was found wrapped in a plastic bag. Later, it was revealed that the body belonged to the missing student.

The police started investigation into the case and searched for the suspects. The perpetrator, the victim's neighbor who confessed to the crime, was arrested premeditatedly.

According to the confession of the condemned, which he gave at the court session, he had watched a number of crime movies, for a period of  six months before committing his crime, to learn how to kill and get rid of the body without leaving traces, adding that the victim refused his request to be engaged with him, and told him that she would never marry him.

Al-Omari continued his confessions, as he confirmed that he forced her to the house, while she was going up to her house, and tightened his grip on her from behind.

Saeed's mother said her son threatened her with death and she did not participate in the crime. She asked the victim's family for forgiveness.

" We were held in one room while the body was being cut. My son also threatened me with death, and I bought plastic bags for fear of him", murderer’s mother stated in the court.

Abeer's mother denied the perpetrator’s acquaintance with her daughter, and he lied that he had engaged her or approached her before, because her daughter was a nice and a shy girl. According to her, his statements discredited her daughter.

According to Ziban youtube Chanel, Muhammad Salhi, Abeer's father, said: "We ask the authorities for justice, we require executions for those involved in the act of killing of our daughter, because she was an innocent girl and we ask her friends and people to pray for her with mercy."           

According to Elkhaber.com , the court's first decision of the case was the execution of the perpetrator and four members of his family and life imprisonment for two members of the family, and after appeals from the accused, and the change of their statements, the judge’s decision was changed. The final court decision was execution of the murderer, and imprisonment between three to five years for the rest of the family.

"The case was under the supervision of the judiciary, it came out of our validity,"   said MawasSaeed, police chief in the Biskra region. according to Nourddine kadri ,a reporter Dzair News TV.

Abeer's mother confirmed that the decision was unfair for a violent crime, which targeted her daughter, because the case had been changed in its provisions with the change of the judge, and because of the defendants changing their statements.  "We have not taken our rights yet, and we ask the judge to do justice to our daughter's right," say the victim’s panets on Ziban youtube Chanel. 

While the Attorney General at the Judicial Council confirmed that the case is still appealed and not resolved, due to the appeals from the accused and some legal procedures and new details will be announced when all investigation procedures are completed.

Until now, the case is appealed, and no final judgment has been issued.

The Algerian police recorded a rise in the number of rapes in 2011 by 229 reported cases, and in 2016 the police recorded 238 cases of rape, including 41 against minors, according to reports published by El-Khabar newspaper.

According to police reports, what they receive from reports of cases of rape and kidnapping does not reflect actual reality - as many issues are kept secret, for fear of society's views, customs, and traditions. This means, that if cases like Hafida Salhi’s case are not investigated and reported, they might continue causing harm to other families and the whole society.