CAPTURED IN ALGERIA
The ‘capture of Hocine ATt Ahmed October 17 brought down the curtain on the efforts mounted almost exactly a year ago {see World Outlook October 11, 1963] to topple the Ben Bella government by armed counterrevolution. Ait Ahmed was. one of the main figures behind the so-called "Front of Socialist Forces,"
At a press conference October 20, Hocine Zahouane, spokesman of the Political Bureau, said that AITt Ahmed would be given a public trial. This means that the case will be handled in the civil courts with full protection of the legal rights of the defendant. Under Algerian law he could have been court-martialed, the case being handled behind closed doors as happened with Chaabani, another figure in the counterrevolutionary maquis, who ‘was given the death penalty..- [See World Outlook July 17. ]
It is not known at present what ind of defense ATt Ahmed will offer, A recent leaflet of the "Front of Socialist Forces," boasted of killing "hundreds" of loyal supporters of Algeria's revolutionary government ‘since September 10.
In Paris, Mohamed Boudiaf, one of the leaders of the CNDR [Comité National de Défense de La Révolution], a. newly founded organization that has. sought -to.bring together all the opponents of the’ Ben Bella regime, issued a press release in which he said:
"after the murder of Colonel Chaabani, and the many liquidations of numerous other patriots, the government may be tempted to give Ait Ahmed similar treatment. I launch a solemn warning to the regime for anything that may happen to Att Ahmed, and I alert world - opinion on an Outcome , the repercussions of which could carry heavy consequences.’
According to the October 20 issue of the ‘Algters daily Le Peuple, Ait Ahmed was captured in the village of Iguer, half way between AZazgea and Mekla, near Bouzgane. Peasants ‘reported his hideout, — a
A battalion of soldiers headed by Commandant Bey, who was in charge of the capture of Chaabani, accompanied by fifty members of militia and various. officials of ihe government and the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale], left for the area Friday evening. Inside a house they discovored a trap door. Out of the small cellar to which it led, four men ‘and: ‘two women filed. Among them was ALt Ahmed .
: The Paris daily Le Monde: [october 20] said that ATt Ahmed's "political downfall preceded his capture.” And it added, assessing his course in taking up arms, that "despite himself he became the hero of reactionary regionalism and even appeared as the last hope for a dispossessed and threatened bourgeoisie."
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