Dozens of women gathered outside Algiers Grande Poste yesterday jostled to show foreign reporters pictures of young husbands, sons, daughters or brothers taken from their homes or workplaces and never heard of again.
"Look at him, he's only 32 years old," said Aisha Ferkous, whose son was taken a year ago from his home in a poor Algiers suburb. "If he is dead, then let him be dead, I can mourn him but all I want is for the authorities to tell me."
Mrs Ferkous had barely spoken when police arrived to break up the protest, preventing the crowd from marching on to parliament as planned. Human rights lawyers with the women said many other protesters had been prevented from reaching the post office.
After more than five years of sinister civil war, the international community has finally begun to speak out against the killings of civilians blamed by the government on Islamist extremists. Human rights organisations have condemned Islamist killings and accused the government of responsibility for torture, disappearances and extra-judicial executions.
Following recent massacres, Mrs Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the violence against civilians in Algeria had reached such levels that it could not be considered an internal Algerian matter.
The army-backed government denies violating human rights and opposes foreign interference in the conflict. Officials say the violence by extremists should not be equated with violations by the state. The official National Observatory For Human Rights admits there might be hundreds of cases of people disappearing.