Djamila Bouhired
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Djamila Bouhired | |
|---|---|
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| Born | June 1935 (age 89) |
| Nationality | Algerian |
| Organization | National Liberation Army (ALN) |
| Movement | National Liberation Front (FLN) |
| Spouse | Jacques Vergès (1965[1]–1970) |
| Children | 2 |
Djamila Bouhired (Arabic: جميلة بوحيرد, born June 1935[2]) is an Algerian militant, nationalist and revolutionary[2] who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria. She was raised in a middle-class family,[3] having attended a French school in Algeria. She joined the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) while a student activist. There she worked as a liaison officer and personal assistant of FLN commander Saadi Yacef in Algiers.[4]
Biography
[edit]
Djamila Bouherid was born in a middle-class family in colonial Algeria. When she was still a student in a French school, she was punished for refusing to participate in the daily pledge "France is our mother", instead saying "Algeria is our mother". Her brothers were already involved with the underground nationalist struggle, and Bouhired soon joined the National Liberation Front herself. During the Algerian War, she worked as a liaison agent for the commander Saadi Yacef.[citation needed]
In April 1957, before a large planned demonstration in the Casbah, she was captured by the French and tortured for information. Bouhired maintains that she did not confess to any wrongdoing or reveal any confidential information about the FLN. According to Bouhired, the torture went on for a total of 17 days.[citation needed]
Arrest and death sentence
[edit]In July 1957, she was tried for allegedly bombing a cafe, alongside another Algerian rebel, Djamila Bouazza, aged 19.[3] The bomb killed 11 civilians. At the time the French lawyer Jacques Vergès, sympathetic to the cause of the Algerian nationalists, heard of her case and decided to represent her. During the trial, Vergès waged a public relations campaign on Bouhired's behalf and accused the French government of having committed the bombing themselves. Despite Vergès's efforts, Bouhired was convicted and sentenced to death by guillotine.[citation needed]
Vergès co-wrote a plea arguing that Bouhired should not receive the death penalty. Various protest groups formed throughout Algeria and abroad rallied to convince the government not to kill Bouhired. Most notably, princess Lalla Aicha of Morocco contacted the President of France at the time, René Coty, and asked that Bouhired be spared from the death sentence. After being spared, Bouhired served a prison sentence in the Reims prison until 1962.[3] As the end of the war drew near, she was released along with many other Algerian prisoners.[citation needed]
Vergès claimed to have become a target of the French colonial government, which allegedly launched several failed assassination attempts against him, including a bomb placed in his apartment and another in his car.[5]
Post-war life
[edit]Bouhired and Vergès were married a year after Algeria's independence, by which point Vergès had converted to Islam and taken the first name Mansoor. The couple had two children, Meriem and Liess Vergès. Bouhired separated from Vergés in 1970, after seven years together.[5] She became chairwoman of the Algerian Women Association in independent Algeria, and was constantly at odds with then-Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella.[citation needed]
Djamila Bouhired resides in the capital of Algeria, Algiers, and continues to be a militant for several causes of which she participates in protests and marches, including the 2019 Algerian protests.[6]
In popular culture
[edit]Bouhired has been portrayed in several films, including:
- Jamila, the Algerian (1958) by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine
- One of the trio of FLN female bombers depicted in the 1966 film The Battle of Algiers (1966)
- Terror's Advocate (2007), a documentary film about Jacques Vergès.
Honours
[edit]
Tunisia : Order of the Republic – Grand Officer (2020)[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Jones, Mother (May 1987). Mother Jones Magazine. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ a b Kuhlman, Erika A. (2002). A to Z of women in world history. Infobase Publishing. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-8160-4334-7. Archived from the original on 19 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
- ^ a b c "Bouhired, Djamila (1937—)". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "A Savage Peace: Algeria 1954-1962, by Alistair Horne, copyright 1977, 1987, 1996 and 2006 by Alistair Horne
- ^ a b "Un couple mythique : Jacques Vergès et Djamila Bouhired". ChoufChouf. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "Algeria: Tens of thousands protest president's bid for fifth term". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- ^ "من هي أيقونة الثورة التي منحها رئيس تونس أعلى وسام؟". Al Arabiya (in Arabic). 23 January 2020.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1935 births
- Living people
- Algerian guerrillas
- Algerian Muslims
- African women in war
- Algerian prisoners sentenced to death
- Female guerrillas
- Female revolutionaries
- 21st-century Algerian people
- Prisoners sentenced to death by the French military
- Women sentenced to death
- Women in the Algerian War
- Members of the National Liberation Front (Algeria)