Between ten and twenty thousand people disappeared in Algeria in the decade following the cancellation of the general election of 1992 after the first round had been won by the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut). Using the testimony of the families of some of those who disappeared, Omar D’s photographs present the places where events occurred, their relationship to the surrounding urban and rural landscapes and the lives of those who have been affected.

The hundreds of faces gazing out from these pages are a heartbreaking testimony to the hideous practice of forced disappearances. For more than thirty-five years, Amnesty International has campaigned against this secretive, systematic strategy of terror and intimidation. Forced disappearances involve untold abuses against the victim — arbitrary arrest, detention without trial, torture, unknown death — and the pain of families left, not knowing. It is now recognized internationally as a crime against humanity for which states and other powers can be tried in the International Criminal Court. There is still a long way to go to eradicate it, and the courage and persistence of families and others who search for justice and truth demand the support of all of us. – Kate Allen, Director, Amnesty International UK.

Adel Amar, born 23 April 1972, living at Draâ Ben Khedda (Tizi- Ouzou), was arrested on 22 April 1995. His mother testifies that a group of soldiers accompanied by several policemen came to the house around 11 pm and announced that her son, who worked as a night watchman, had been arrested but that he would very soon be released. His mother went to Tadmaït barracks, where a military official confirmed his presence but said he had been transferred to a place that he did not identify…

Amenouche Mourad, born 18 August 1967, was married and lived in the Casbah of Algiers. On 6 May 1997 gendarmes, accompanied by members of the Aghib Self-Defence Group, burst into his home, breaking down the door, searching the house and taking away kitchen knives and hunting rifles belonging to him, on the pretext that they were evidence. They took him in full view of other inhabitants of the village. His father was summoned to the gendarmerie brigade of Freha to file a report, following a file lodged with the National Observatory of Human Rights (Observatoire national des droits de l’Homme, ONDH), but without any result. Letters were sent to the President of the Republic and to the Ministers of Justice and of the Interior, and a file on the disappearance was sent to the Working Group of the United Nations on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances in 1998…

Amrouche Amine, born 24 October 1975, living at Baraki, Algiers, was kidnapped near his home on 30 January 1997 by armed civilians in an unmarked car. On that day there had been an attack against the Prefect of Algiers at Baraki. Following this attack, there were three days of raids and thirteen people disappeared. That same day, late in the afternoon, Amrouche Amine was taken by plain-clothes police officers in an unmarked car (a white Nissan)…

Bouhal Farouk, born 19 July 1975, was a secondary school student living in Belouizdad, Algiers. He was taken at 2.30 am on Friday 2 September 1994 from the family home by soldiers wearing balaclavas. They ransacked everything in their path. Five other people were abducted that night in the same area…

Benazouz Redouane, born 8 May 1965, married with one child, employed as a male nurse at Mustapha Hospital and living in Algiers. He was arrested by soldiers at 11 am on Thursday 28 November 1994 at the exit to the hospital…

Aggoun Hakim, born 3 September 1974 at Fouka where he lived, was arrested on 26 December 1994 at around 2 pm as he was leaving the mosque to return to work. His mother testifies: He was loading his van with boxes of tomatoes when four gendarmes arrived and arrested him, taking the van and his stock of vegetables with them. His father went to the gendarmerie to find out why he had been arrested. He was told that his son was not there. As his father persisted, one of the gendarmes threatened him: Either you shut up and clear off or you will join your son. A year later, the gendarmes took his elder brother Aggoun Mohamed, aged thirty-two and a scrap merchant, as he was coming home from work. His van and 70 million centimes were also taken. A month and a half later, they took my third son, Aggoun Nacer, aged twenty-six. He was going to work at Bou Ismail, around six in the morning. Every time that their father went to find news of what had happened to his three children, he was threatened with suffering the same fate as them. They are trying to make him keep quiet.

Kettabi Laïd, born 15 February 1964, married with two children, primary school teacher, living in Médéa. He was abducted from his school by plain-clothes members of Military Security in a white Nissan at 9.30 am on 20 March 1996. This took place in front of the headteacher, school staff and pupils. Other people were taken away on the same day…

Mechani Farid, born 5 February 1965, driver and mechanic, living at Hussein Dey, Algiers. On 16 May 1993 five armed, plain-clothes police arrested him at home and violently pushed him into a Peugeot J5 police van, registration 003090-16. His other abductors were driving a beige Peugeot 205 (1987 model). They took him to the Daïra Security Police of Hussein Dey…

Nekrouf Abdelkader, born 28 August 1950, married and father of seven children, lived in Oran and was a lawyer at Mascara. Four plain-clothes Military Security agents took him as he was getting out of his car in front of the law courts in Mascara on 8 July 1997 at 11 am. The arrest took place in front of his personal secretary and his cousin…

Ousserir Djafar, born 30 August 1978, single, unemployed, living at Bougara near Blida, was arrested at 6 pm on 6 May 1997 in front of his family by paratroopers known in the village. He was imprisoned at the military post of Ouled Selama. A warder at Boufarik prison told his mother that he was detained there, before later retracting this statement…

Selmouni Mohamed, born 15 July 1969, single, seller of secondhand clothes, living in Algiers, physically disabled (his leg is amputated at his left thigh), was arrested before witnesses at 6 pm on 15 January 1994, in front of his house, by plain-clothes police in three unmarked vehicles (J5 van, Golf and Renault 4). The police wore balaclavas and carried Kalashnikovs. His father and mother were arrested and locked up for a month, during which time they were tortured, according to his mother’s testimony…

Zemit Djamel, born 31 May 1964, single, heating engineer, living at Oued Ouchayeh, Algiers, was arrested at home, in front of his family, at 3 am on 7 April 1994, by gendarmes and soldiers. They ransacked his home during a search, stealing money and clothing…