Djamila Bouhired
| Djamila Bouhired | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 1935 (age 82) Algiers, French Algeria (now Algeria) |
| Nationality | Algerian |
| Organization | Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN) |
| Movement | Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) |
| Spouse(s) | Jacques Vergès (1963–2013) |
| Relatives |
|
Djamila Bouhired (Arabic: جميلة بوحيرد, born c. 1935) is an Algerian militant.
Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria. She was raised in a middle-class family, having attended a French school. She would go on in her youth to join the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) while a student activist. There she worked as a liaison officer and personal assistant of FLN commander Yacef Saadi in Algiers. Despite her fame and being widely considered as one the faces of the Algerian Revolution, very little is known about her life.
Djamila Bouherid was born to a middle-class family in colonial Algeria. When she was still a student in a French school, she discovered her revolutionary spirit. When all the Algerian students repeated every morning "France is our mother", Bouhired would stand up and scream "Algeria is our mother!" Of course, she was punished for this by the principal. From this time, Bouhired was drawn to the revolutionary cause. Her brothers having already been involved with the underground nationalist struggle, Bouhired was quick to join and her profile would quickly rise in stature. During the revolution she worked as a liaison agent for the commander Saadi Yacef.
In June 1957, before a large planned demonstration, she was captured by the French and, she claims, tortured for information about that demonstration. She did not divulge any information under torture and reportedly repeated "Algeria is our mother" while being tortured (the information is based on her own account and cannot be independently verified).
In July 1957 she was tried for allegedly bombing a cafe, which killed 11 civilians inside. At the time a French lawyer named Jacques Vergès, sympathetic to the cause of the Algerian nationalists, heard of her case and decided to represent her. In what would be a historic trial, Vergès accused the government of themselves having committed the acts charged in his defense, waging a public relations campaign on her behalf. Despite his efforts, she was convicted and sentenced to death by the guillotine.
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