In 2011, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in power from 1999 to 2019, lifted a state of emergency that had been in place since the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002, as a result of the Arab Spring protests that had occurred throughout the Arab world. Serious challenges to human rights in Algeria have included substantial restrictions of freedom of association, assembly and movement, alongside state control over freedom of expression and of the press, extensive corruption, official impunity, overuse of pre-trial detention, substandard prison conditions, prisoner abuse, absence of a free judiciary, violence and discrimination against women, limited workers' rights, and arbitrary killings by government agents. In 2017, Human Rights Watch reported the Algerian government had increasingly resorted to criminal prosecutions against bloggers, journalists, and media figures for peaceful speech, via articles in the country's penal code criminalising "offending the president", "insulting state officials" and "denigrating Islam", in addition to dismissing peaceful demonstrations as "unauthorised gatherings". Bouteflika resigned in 2019 after months of protests following the declaration of his intention to run for a fifth term as president. Following an interim period, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president, who spoke out in favour of protestors. Despite this, Human Rights Watch reported in 2021 that the Algerian government continued to arrest and imprison protestors, activists, and journalists from the Hirak movement, alongside amending the country's constitution to restrict freedom of speech and further curtail judicial independence. Historical background Algeria has been categorized by Freedom House as "not free" since it began publishing such ratings in 1972, with the exception of 1989, 1990, and 1991, when the country was labeled "partly free". To the extent that there is democracy in today's Algeria, it is founded in three pieces of legislation: The Political Parties Act (1989, amended 1997), which allowed multiple political parties The Associations Act (1987, amended 1990), which permitted establishment of associations The Information Act (1990), which paved the way for independent news media Free elections were held in the country beginning in 1988, but a victory by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the 1991 parliamentary ballot sparked a military coup d'état and the imposition, in February 1992, of a state of emergency under which basic human rights were suspended. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly were severely restricted, and many individuals were arrested without charge and held without trial. A civil war raged from 1991