Since the imposition of a state of emergency in Algeria at the beginning of 1992, over 3,000 people have died as a result of political violence. Both the security forces and the armed Islamist oppositions groups are responsible. The numbers of those killed is on the increase. The Algerian authorities are also responsible for other human rights violations including torture and ill-treatment of detainees held in prolonged incommunicado detention, arbitrary arrests, administrative detention, unfair trials and death sentences and executions. They are also in no position to protect those at risk of extrajudicial execution from the armed opposition groups.