Djamila Boupacha

Djamila Boupacha (born 9 February 1938 in Bologhine, a suburb of Algiers) is a former militant from the Algerian National Liberation Front. She was arrested in 1960 for an attempting to bomb a cafe in Algiers.[1] Her confession, which was obtained by means of torture and rape, affected French public opinion about the methods used by the French army in Algeria, after publicity by Simone de Beauvoir and Gisèle Halimi. Boupacha was sentenced to death on 29 June 1961, given amnesty under the Evian accords and freed on 21 April 1962.

Arrest and torture

Early in the Algerian War, Boupacha worked as a trainee at Béni Messous Hospital but was prevented from taking a certificate in training because of her race and religion.[1]

On 10 February 1960, French troops razed Boubacha's household and arrested her and her family. They were taken to a military barracks at El Biar where they were beaten and interrogated.[1] Boupacha was later transferred and tortured at the prison of Hussein Dey. The torture included brutal sexual violence.[1][2] Under torture, Boupacha confessed to planting a bomb at a University restaurant on 27 September 1959.[1][2]

Torture was a common experience for women who were arrested in this conflict, and rape was systematically used to terrorize and shame the Algerian community.[1] The importance of Boupacha's case lies in her decision to bring a suit against her torturers. Though she did not deny her affiliation with the FLN and her commitment to Algerian independence, she did argue that a confession achieved under torture should not be admissible before the military tribunal that was to try her. French officials in Algeria also hindered Boupacha's access to legal representation, denying her lawyer's visas where they aligned with Boupacha's court dates.[3]

Trial

Working with French Tunisian lawyer Gisèle Halimi, Boupacha brought her torture case to trial, causing a scandal in France and Algeria and gaining wide public attention as well as support of prominent artists and intellectuals such as Simone de Beauvoir, Henri Alleg, André Philip, and Pablo Picasso.[2]

Boupacha's violated virginity, her physical and metaphorical purity, came under intense scrutiny in the court case as well as in the media. The practices of sexual humiliation were already known to the public, but Boupacha's case shed light on how far the army would go to protect her torturers from prosecution.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kunkle, Ryan (2013). ""We Must Shout the Truth to the Rooftops:" Gisèle Halimi, Djamila Boupacha, and Sexual Politics in the Algerian War of Independence". Iowa Historical Review. 4 (1).
  2. 1 2 3 Simone de Beauvoir and Gisèle Halimi, Djamila Boupacha: The Story of the Torture of a Young Algerian Girl Which Shocked Liberal French Opinion (London: André Deutsch, Weidenfeld, and Nicolson, 1962).
  3. 1 2 Surkis, Judith (Summer 2010). "ETHICS AND VIOLENCE Simone de Beauvoir, Djamila Boupacha, and the Algerian War". French Politics, Culture & Society. 28 (2).

Further reading

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