Yacef Saadi, the hero of the struggle for Algeria’s independence and leader of the rebellion in the capital during the Battle of Algiers, one of the key episodes of the War of Independence, died Friday evening at the age of 93.
The Mojahedin (ex-combatants) Minister Laid Rebiga hailed in a statement “a reckless leader who challenged the colonizer’s armies and fought them with an iron will, courage and abnegation until the recovery of independence”.
Yacef Saadi will be buried late Saturday afternoon in El Kettar cemetery in Algiers, according to the official APS agency.
Responsible for the “Autonomous Zone of Algiers”
The “Battle of Algiers” took place in 1957, when the French army attempted to regain control of the old city of Algiers, the Casbah from the Algerian fighters. The arrest of Yacef Saadi on October 14, 1957, marked the end.
He was in charge of the “autonomous zone of Algiers” during this episode of the war which saw an increase in the actions of the FLN (National Liberation Front) and French repressive operations.
This baker from the Casbah, promoted military leader of the rebellion for the region of Algiers, had played his own role in 1966 in the film “The Battle of Algiers”, by Italian filmmaker and Communist journalist Gillo Pontecorvo. This film, which Yacef Saadi had also produced, was banned for a long time in France, where it was only released in theaters in 2004.
