Amar Bentoumi, born December 26, 1923, in
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
* Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
,
Algeria
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, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
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, capital = Algiers
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, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, to a family from Sidi Aïch (Béjaïa) and died March 29, 2013 (aged 89) in Algiers, was a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
, Algerian independence activist and Algerian
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He was the first Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, of independent Algeria.
In his youth, in Algiers, he was alternately lemonade, railway worker, day laborer. He sometimes develops a trade union activity.
The nationalist
He entered the Algerian
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
movement very early on, in 1943: “I was recruited by Hocine Asselah, leader of the MCA basketball team. In the Mouloudéen formation, the two backs were Abdelmalek Temam and me. In September 1943, I participated in the first demonstration during Eid al-Fitr. I was arrested along with Sid Ali Abdelhamid and defended by French lawyers». In the
baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to:
* ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification
* Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree
* English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...
, I obtained a very good mark in philosophy and intended to study for a bachelor's degree in history, but Asselah discouraged me from doing so. “Practice law to be the party's lawyer”This was what I did. I was sworn in on July 10, 1947 to plead all cases in which the PPA was involved. It happened at the Algiers Bar alongside my colleagues Gonon, Ali Boumendjel and Hocine Tayebi".
The insurgent
After All Saints' Day of 1954, Amar became one of the lawyers of the
FLN. He was arrested in February 1957 and imprisoned in Berrouaghia then in Bossuet. "I had become the clandestine responsible for it with Cheikh Sahnoun as muphti, alongside Djennas, Kerbouche, Aroua, Dr Belouizdad."
The Minister
In 1962, at the time of the ceasefire, he was rapporteur for the justice commission of the Evian accords, then a member of the
central referendum commission for independence. Then he was appointed chief of cabinet of
Rabah Bitat
Rabah Bitat ( ar, رابح بيطاط; ALA-LC: ''Rābaḥ Bīṭāṭ''; 19 December 1925 in Aïn Kerma – 10 April 2000) was an Algerian Nationalist and politician.
He served as interim President of Algeria from 1978 to 1979, after Houari ...
during the last months of the GPRA (
Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic
The Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic ( ar, الحكومة المؤقتة للجمهورية الجزائرية, ; French: ''Gouvernement provisoire de la République algérienne'') was the government-in-exile of the Algerian Natio ...
) before being elected deputy of Algiers on July 22, 1962, within the Constituent Assembly. Finally, he was the first justice minister of independent Algeria in the government of
Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella ( ar, أحمد بن بلّة '; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 an ...
on September 27, 1962.
The Human Rights Lawyer
Not renewed in the second Ben Bella government, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Algerian desert, with
Ferhat Abbas Ferhat is a Turkish given name and the Turkish spelling of the Persian name Ferhad ( fa, فرهاد, ''farhād''). It may refer to:
Given name Ferhad
* Ferhad Ayaz (born 1994), Turkish-Swedish footballer
* Ferhad Pasha Sokolović 16th-century Ott ...
and many others for more than a year in 1963. He resumed his legal profession in 1965, before become president of Algiers in 1971. He is a member of the sponsorship committee of the
Russell Tribunal
The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People's Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...
on
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
whose work was presented on March 4, 2009. The last year of his life he violently attacked Ben Bella whom he accused of having denounced all the members of the OS (Special Organization) during his arrest following the attack in the city of'
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
.
He will defend
Abane Ramdane
Abane Ramdane (June 10, 1920 – December 26, 1957) was an Algerian political activist and revolutionary. He played a key role in the organization of the independence struggle during the Algerian war. His influence was so great that he was known ...
as a persisting activist against Ben Bella's attempts to damage his past.
L'Algerie A-T-Elle
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See Also
* Ali Yahia Abdennour
* Hocine Zehouane
* Mostefa Bouchachi
References
{{Portal bar, Politics, law
Algerian people
Algerian people by occupation
Algerian diplomats
Justice ministers of Algeria