Mohammed
Larbi Ben M'hidi was a prominent Algerian leader during the
war of
independence. Ben M'hidi was the last member of the FLN's
Coordinating and Executing Committee (C.C.E) during the Battle of
Algiers. He was captured by French paratroopers in 1957 and was
later killed in custody. He is considered to be a national hero in Algeria.
On
30 March 1954, Larbi Ben M'hidi was among nine men that formed the Comité
Révolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action (CRUA)
On
10 October 1954, Larbi Ben M'hidi and five other members of the CRUA approved
the transformation, thus giving birth to the Front de Liberation Nationale
(FLN) and the establishment of the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN).
On
1 November 1954, an unknown organisation to the French had claimed
responsibility for all of the attacks that were made on French targets. These
attacks were referred to as military operations by the then unknown
organisation, the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN).
Larbi
Ben M'hidi was one of the six men that were conducting the rebellion internally
The
details regarding Larbi Ben M'hidi's arrest are quite controversial, as there
are several versions which contradict those of the French.[4]
According to
French sources, parachutists burst into an apartment on Rue Claude Debussy, in
the European quarter, and arrested Larbi Ben M'hidi in his pajamas.
Ben M'hidi was tortured and then executed by the French Special Services while in Aussaresses's custody. Ben M’hidi was driven to an outlying farm where he was hanged “to make it look like suicide".
His death was announced on March 6, 1957.
General Aussaresses admitted in 2000 the use of torture during the war and sought to justify it. He also recognized the assassination of lawyer Ali Boumendjel and of Ben M'Hidi.
