Anwar Haddam () was a leader of the

Islamic Salvation Front The Islamic Salvation Front (; , FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representing its two bases of its support; Abbassi Madani appealed to pious small businessmen, and Ali Belhadj appealed to the a ...

(FIS), an Islamist

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, and was elected to parliament on a FIS ticket in 1991 - Algeria's first

multiparty In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...

elections. The dissolution of the FIS by military

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after its electoral victories in 1991-92 triggered the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War (), known in Algeria as the Black Decade (, ), was a civil war fought between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups from 11 January 1992 (following a 1992 Algerian coup d'état, coup negating an Islami ...

. Haddam spent most of the war years in

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, acting as a main figure in the party's political leadership. Algerian authorities unsuccessfully sought his

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

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In 2004 Haddam resigned from FIS, and in 2007 co-founded the Movement for Liberty & Social Justice (MLJS).

Life

A student and a disciple of the late Algerian thinker Malek Bennabi, Haddam has been involved with the Algerian Islamic Movement since 1972, and is one of the pioneers in its participation in the political arena. A nuclear physicist, he was a faculty member of the Physics Department of the University of Science and Technology of Algiers before being elected to the Algerian Parliament in December 1991 on behalf of the Islamic Front for Salvation (FIS). After the interruption of the Democratic process by the military in January 1992, he was given the mission of representing the winning party of majority in those elections, namely the FIS, in Europe and the US, and that of its international relations. Haddam has been and still is an advocate for a political solution to Algeria’s political authority crisis. Haddam was the initiator and one of the signatories of the historic “National Contract for a Peaceful & Political Solution to Algeria Crisis” found in Rome by the mean Algerians political parties in January 1995. In this Sant'Egidio Platform, Haddam, Abdelhamid Mehri and Hocine Ait Ahmed demanded a reinstatement of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

in Algeria. Unfortunately the militaries rejected the platform engaging the country in a bloody civil war. In September 2005, in recognition for his peaceful political efforts for the resolution of Algeria crisis, Haddam was invited by the Algerian President to return to the country to participate in the President project for national reconciliation. The infamous “eradicators” opposed a strong veto to Haddam’s return; a veto that is still in effect as of today. An invited speaker, Haddam lectured on the Algerian crisis and Political Islam at various institutions in Europe and in the US. A writer as well, he authored numerous articles, and has written two books on the Algerian crisis and national reconciliation. In the midst of the current popular uprising in some of the Arab countries, and in an attempt to avoid chaos in his home country Algeria, he is actively involved in building consensus between Algeria’s various political tendencies and the military for a comprehensive and gradual democratic change of Algeria’s 50 years old military backed regime.

External links

"An Islamist Vision for Algeria"
- Interview with Anwar Haddam {{DEFAULTSORT:Haddam, Anwar Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Islamic Salvation Front politicians 21st-century Algerian people