Death sentences issued against Algerian liberation revolution fighters and the reaction of the National Liberation Front towards them 1955-1962.
Abstract
After the outbreak of the Algerian revolution on November 1, 1954, the battles and military operations carried out by the revolutionaries against the French occupation forces. The latter's reaction to these operations was as violent as the surprise caused by the revolution. Many Algerians were subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and in most cases, their files were referred to military courts, which spared no effort in throwing these Algerians to death and placing their necks under the guillotine. Beginning on June 27, 1955, the Military Court of Algiers sentenced 14 mujahideen to death, who were among those who attacked on the night of November the 1st. This date marked the beginning of a long series of death sentences that reached its peak with the Battle of Algiers in 1957. Death sentences became an inseparable feature of the decisions of the military courts in Algeria, which were established after the issuance of the State of Emergency Law in April 1956. Death sentences were issued against Algerians in large numbers and were often issued collectively against a group of Algerians. They included mujahideen and activists in the ranks of the National Liberation Army and the National Liberation Front, and some cases innocent people. These executions resulted a hundred of missing Algerians and hundreds of displaced families, orphans, and widows. Thus, the issue of those sentenced to death during the liberation revolution became an extremely serious matter. It embodied the dominance of the French occupation in Algeria and its violation of international laws and agreements. The National Liberation Front (FLN) was not immune to these developments and attempted to support detainees sentenced to death by appointing a panel of Algerian and foreign lawyers to defend them. It also carried out reprisals against French military leaders and prison directors as well as defended those sentenced to death through the media and exposing the illegal violations committed by the French occupation in Algeria.
This study aims to present a picture of the reality of executions during the Algerian Revolution, explaining the development of the work of the courts in Algeria, which became exclusively dedicated to adjudicating revolutionary actions. It also highlights the efforts and positions of the National Liberation Front regarding the field and political developments surrounding the accelerating pace of issuing death sentences against its activists.
The article therefore revolves around the following question: How did the National Liberation Front react to the death sentences issued against the fighters of the liberation revolution? The present article will include three sections. The first reveals the justice system in Algeria, through which I explained the reality of the French laws applied in Algeria and how the colonial authorities gave legal status to all their transgressions against Algerians most notably the issue of executions. The second section deals with the situation of activists sentenced to death before French military courts and in prison corridors until they reached the guillotine. The third section addresses the reaction of the FLN to the death sentences issued against its activists, the methods and techniques employed by the FLN to defend them using all available means including forming a committee of lawyers to defend them in French courts, in the media or even in military operations to mitigate the increasing number of executions.
I used the historical method with its tools of description and analysis in preparing this article since the historical method is automatically suitable for completing historical studies and tracking events and the sequence of dates. As for the tool of description, I used it to describe the condition of those sentenced to death, starting from their arrest until their execution, through analysis I was able to identify some of the contradictions that occurred in the case of those sentenced to death, especially with regard to the colonial laws issued in Algeria.
At the end of this article, I have reached a number of conclusions, the most prominent of which is the extent to which the French occupation authorities violated international laws by executing large numbers of Algerians. Regarding the gradual increase in the number of those executed arbitrary and the escalation of the revolutionary struggle, the issue of those sentenced to death in Algeria became one of the issues that occupied the public opinion both locally and internationally. Another result was that the national liberation Front did not abandon the activists sentenced to death and followed every step of the way from their arrest through their trial and defence which eventually led to a large number of them escaping death.
Key words: sentence; military courts; National Liberation Front; Military judiciary.
