Ali Boumendjel

Ali Boumendjel (May 24, 1919 – March 23, 1957) was an Algerian militant and lawyer.

Biography

Born in Relizane to an educated family, Boumendjel was educated at the Duveyrier college in Blida, where he met with other future figures of the Algerian revolution, such as Abane Ramdane, Benyoucef Benkhedda and Saad Dahlab. He then oriented his career toward law, and became a journalist for the Egalié journal, controlled by the integrationists of Ferhat Abbas. During the revolution he became, with Jacques Verges, one of many lawyers working for the Algerian nationalists. In 1955, he joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) with his old friend Abane Ramdane, after Ramdane was released from prison.[1] Ramdane advised Boumendjel to change his professional orientation, so he joined the litigation department of Shell corporation, while still continuing his militantism in the FLN.

Boumendjel was arrested on February 9, 1957, and underwent over a month of torture at the hands of Paul Aussaresses and his men. On March 23, he was thrown from the sixth floor of a building; his death was passed off as a suicide.[2] Forty-three years later, in 2000, Aussaresses admitted that Boumendjel had been murdered.[3]

References
  1. "Autopsie d'un engagement. Biographie Ali Boumendjel, l'avocat martyr" (in French). Dja Zairess. November 20, 2010.
  2. Benyahia, Aek (February 19, 2012). "Ali Boumendjel, avocat pacifiste, torturé et assassiné par les paras de Massu" (in French). Reflexion.
  3. "L'accablante confession du général Aussaresses sur la torture en Algérie". Le Monde (in French). 3 May 2001. (subscription required)

Bibliography
  • Malika Rahal (2010). Ali Boumendjel, une affaire française, une histoire algérienne. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. ISBN 2251900055.
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