Mohamed Samraoui (born 1953) is a former member of the Algerian secret services (Intelligence and Security Directorate, DRS) who wrote a book claiming that the DRS had been involved in torture and extralegal killings, and had manipulated the Armed Islamic Groups on a large scale to commit further massacres.
He joined the Algerian army in July 1974. After studying biochemistry and going through officer training, he became an instructor at a Military Security school (Sécurité Militaire (SM), the army's secret service) at Beni-Messous, and rose through the SM's ranks, moving to various towns as his postings changed. From March 1990 to July 1992, he worked in Algiers in the counterespionage bureau, as well as becoming part of the state of emergency administration from 1991 on. In 1992, he asked to resign, but was not permitted to do so; instead, he accepted a posting to the Algerian embassy in Germany as military attaché and advisor, eventually reaching the position of Lt. Colonel in the DRS. In 1995, he reports that he was asked by Smaine Lamari to assassinate two FIS leaders abroad, Abdelbaki Sahraoui and Rabah Kebir. On 12 February 1996, he left his post and sought political asylum in Germany. In 2003, he published a book, Chronique des années de sang , attributing a variety of misdeeds, including the majority of the assassinations and massacres attributed to Islamists, to the Algerian secret services in the course of the Algerian Civil War.
On 22 October 2007, Samraoui was arrested by Spanish police whilst attending a meeting in the town of Benalmádena in Southern Spain. It is believed that the arrest was in response to a request from Interpol that had come from the Algerian authorities. Samraoui is currently under conditional release in Spain awaiting the outcome of the extradition request presented by the Algerian authorities. He was not allowed to return to his home and family in Germany whilst this request was being dealt with by the Spanish judicial system. However, in early December 2007 Samraoui decided to return to Germany claiming that he had been warned that he could be in danger if he remained in Spain.
Samraoui is a correspondence chess player and received the chess title of Senior International Correspondence Chess Master in 2003. He was the President of International Correspondence Chess Federation from 2005-2008. [1]
The Armed Islamic Group was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as the seventh president of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019.
Articles related to Algeria include:
The Organization of Young Free Algerians was a pro-government armed group that claimed credit for various attacks against civilians who sympathised with the Islamists during the Algerian Civil War. It was active mainly in 1994 and 1995. However, it was a front under which elements of the DRS, the Algerian security services, operated. OJAL never existed as an independent organisation.
Fatiha Boudiaf is an Algerian activist, widow and second wife of former Algerian President Mohamed Boudiaf. After his assassination in 1992, she set up the Boudiaf Foundation to spread her husband's message of peace. She has been an outspoken critic of the conviction of Lambarek Boumaarafi, saying that a larger conspiracy was involved in the death of her ex-husband and has demanded that the investigation is reopened.
Arno Nickel is a German correspondence chess Grandmaster and a well-known German chess publisher.
International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded on 26 March 1951 as a new appearance of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA), which was founded in 1945, as successor of the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IFSB), founded on 2 December 1928.
Mikhail Markovich Umansky was a Russian chess grandmaster of correspondence chess, who was the 13th ICCF World Champion in correspondence chess between 1989 and 1998. He was also USSR Correspondence Champion in 1978.
Rachid Boudjedra is an Algerian poet, novelist, playwright and critic. Boudjedra wrote in French from 1965 to 1981, at which point he switched to writing in Arabic, often translating his own works back and forth between the two languages. Boudjedra returned to writing in French in 1992 and has continued to write in that language ever since. Educated in Constantine and in Tunis, Boudjedra later fought for the FLN during the Algerian War of Independence. He received his degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne, where he wrote a thesis on Céline. Upon receiving his degree, he returned to Algeria to teach, but was sentenced to two years in prison for his criticisms of the government and was exiled to Blida. He lived in France from 1969 till 1972, and then in Rabat, Morocco until 1975.
General Mohamed Mediène, also known as Toufik (توفيق), is an Algerian intelligence officer who formerly served as head of the country's secret services, the Intelligence and Security Department, from 1990 to 2015. He was described as the world's longest serving "intelligence chief" and nicknamed le chakal.
Marie-Monique Robin is a French TV journalist and documentary filmmaker. She generally issues books and documentary films together on the topics she investigates, in order to make more people aware of the issues she studies.
The Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) was the Algerian state intelligence service. Its existence dates back to the struggle for independence.
Lt. Gen. Mohamed Lamari was Chief of Staff of the Algerian army during most of the Algerian Civil War.
Major General Smain Lamari was the head of an Algerian intelligence service, the Department of Counter-Espionage and Internal Security.
Events from the year 2008 in Algeria.
Leila Shenna is a Moroccan former actress who featured on film mostly in the 1970s.
Events from the year 2009 in Algeria
Mohamed Seghir Boushaki, was an Algerian Kabyle politician after the French conquest of Algeria.
Saïd Bouteflika is an Algerian politician and academic. He is the brother and was a special adviser of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in his former role as President of Algeria, on whom he would have had "considerable influence", especially after the president suffered a serious stroke in 2013. He was also an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene (USTHB).
Fodil Mezali is an Algerian journalist, editor-in-chief and managing editor.
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