Benbraham: The Execution of Ahmed Zabana Was a Crime Against Humanity and the Law

Lawyer Fatima Zohra Benbraham emphasized on Tuesday, during a conference held on the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of the hero Ahmed Zabana, that his execution by guillotine on June 19, 1956, constituted a crime against humanity and a violation of the law, perpetrated against one of the symbols of resistance and loyalty to the homeland.

During the conference, organized by the "Machaâl Echahid" Association as part of the Memory Forum of the daily El Moudjahid to mark the National Day of those Sentenced to Death, under the slogan "Execution: Between Guillotine and Bullets," Fatima Zohra Benbraham revisited the circumstances surrounding the execution of the martyr Ahmed Zabana. She qualified the act as a "crime against humanity and the law," also recalling the execution of the martyr Abdelkader Ferradj on the same day as Zabana.

Ms. Benbraham highlighted the refusal of the chahid Ahmed Zabana to request a pardon from the French president. "I am a revolutionary and I will never ask for a pardon until my last breath, because I am on the right path," he had told his lawyer.

Discussing the role of lawyers during the National Liberation War, the speaker addressed the pressure exerted by French colonial authorities against many defenders of Algerian militants, noting that some were imprisoned or sanctioned after the French occupier came to regard them as "moudjahidine in black robes."

Furthermore, Ms. Benbraham highlighted the various significances of June 19 in the national memory—a date linked to the arrival of French colonial forces in Algeria in 1830, added to the execution of the two chouhada Zabana and Ferradj on the same day in 1956.

She described this choice of date as a "political message addressed to the Algerian people," signifying the colonial authorities' insistence on crushing the revolution through an arsenal of unjust laws and exceptional measures, including the expansion of the use of the death penalty.

For his part, the moudjahid Mohamed Tahar Abdesselem shared his memories of the chahid Ahmed Zabana in prison, recalling that this symbolic martyr maintained nerves of steel despite his death sentence, smiling at fellow prisoners and constantly repeating "Vive l'Algérie."

In turn, the moudjahid and former death row prisoner, Abdeddaïm Abdeddaïm, urged the youth to draw inspiration from the heroic deeds of the moudjahidine and chouhada to "preserve the legacy and gains of independence and strengthen national unity."