Hocine Aït Ahmed (‎; 20 August 1926 – 23 December 2015) was an Algerian politician. He was founder and leader until 2009 of the historical political opposition in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. The Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium, one of the largest stadiums by capacity in Algeria, is named after Hocine Aït Ahmed.

Life

Aït Ahmed was born at Aït Yahia in 1926. He was one of the main leaders of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

, and was arrested along with

Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella (; 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 and then the first president of ...

, Mohamed Boudiaf, , and Mohamed Khider after France hijacked the airplane the FLN leaders bound for Tunisia, and directed it to occupied

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. After the Algerian War, Aït Ahmed resigned from the

Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic The Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (, ; French: ''Gouvernement provisoire de la République algérienne'', GPRA) was the government-in-exile of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) during the latter part of the Algeria ...

(GPRA) and all the organs of the new power during the crisis of the summer of 1962. In September 1963, he founded the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), which sought political pluralism in political life locked by the single party system. Arrested and sentenced to death in 1964, he escaped from the El Harrach prison on May 1, 1966. Exiled in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, he became a doctor of law. After the riots of 1988, the Algerian president Chadli Bendjedid proposed a new constitution calling for political pluralism. Aït Ahmed was invited to return to his country, where he came back in December 1989, at the head of the FFS, but again left his country after the assassination of the President, Mohamed Boudiaf, in June 1992. He repeatedly returned to Algeria since then, including during the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the war of liberation (November 1, 1954). Aït Ahmed died at the age of 89 in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

on 23 December 2015."Longtime Algerian opposition figure Ait-Ahmed dies: party"
Agence France-Presse, 23 December 2015.

References

External links

* 1926 births 2015 deaths Algerian Berber politicians People from Aït Yahia Kabyle people Algerian People's Party politicians Members of the National Liberation Front (Algeria) Socialist Forces Front politicians Algerian democracy activists Algerian dissidents Algerian emigrants to Switzerland Algerian prisoners sentenced to death {{Algeria-politician-stub