A statue of the Berber poet and activist Matoub Lounes in the Algerian town of Tizi n'Tleta has been found decapitated.

The vandalism comes at a time when organizations dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the poet had been raising funds to repair previous vandalism to the statue.

Lounes was murdered in 1998 by persons unknown. During his life he had been shot by Algerian security forces and kidnapped by Islamists.

Dalil Amazigh, head of a Lounes memorial association, said that the association would continue to protect and restore memorials to Lounes, "who continues to bother the enemies of liberty and democracy."

Source: www.kabyle.com, February 5, 2008