The “Larvaa Nat Iraten” affair attracted intense media attention, sadly reminiscent of the Dreyfus affair in France. The Kabyles found themselves unjustly accused of terrorism and murder, simply because of their identity.
The affair was preceded by over 250 arson-related deaths, and initially resulted in fifty-four Kabyles being sentenced to death at first instance, with 38 on appeal, as well as the round-up of numerous militants from the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK). This conspiracy reveals deep-seated anti-Kabylian hostility and racism, as they were falsely accused of burning down their own land and killing their own families.
The media were quick to relay serious accusations of terrorism against innocent people, even though all current evidence refutes and contradicts them. Testimonies from prison survivors continue to reveal a conspiracy in which the worst intentions of colonial Algeria were staged. Some of the condemned were putting out fires and trying to save lives what the condemning Algeria burned down, while others were simply on the scene at the time and were trapped.
Algeria’s racial hatred of Kabylia goes too far today, and we can’t help but draw the corollary with the Dreyfus affair in France, wrongly accused of collaboration because he was Jewish. The press of the time played an important role in exposing injustice and denouncing anti-Semitism in France. In the case of the LNI Kabyles, the press fuelled the stigmatization of the activists and helped to convey prejudice and demonize them without any respect for the presumption of innocence or the impact of their words.
This Algerian propaganda against the Kabyle has been encouraged by the absence of a diversity of voices and the unicist pan-Arabist ideology, and is dictated by the sole aim of “eradicating the Kabyle language”. Foreign newspapers, without any effort of investigation, have reproduced exactly what the Algerian press, under the orders of the junta, has written and have headlined “54 sentenced to death for the lynching of Djamel Bensmain” without thinking about the consequences on the lives of these innocent people and their families.
Unlike Captain Dreyfus, our Dreyfus didn’t benefit from the support of the press, they didn’t have a “j’accuse” plea, but the opposite happened, innocent people were dragged into the abyss of injustice through the telling of the facts. Beyond the grief they have caused the inconsolable families and loved ones of the victims, these condemnations have highlighted Algeria’s use of its media outlets for anti-Kabylian propaganda. This media inquisition also manifested itself in the staging of events in the official Algerian media, presenting these men as dangerous criminals.
Some, under torture and threats to kill their families, were forced to declare that they were no longer independence fighters but federalists, while many others, handcuffed, were forced to confess to crimes they had not committed after atrocious torture.
In reality, these militants were sacrificed as living examples, a sad staging intended to warn all those who dared to advocate a political commitment to Kabylia’s self-determination or simply to Kabylia. Their symbolic lynching on the media was intended to serve as a terrible example, a brutal demonstration of what could happen to those who dared to defend their Kabylian identity. They were unjustly ensnared by false accusations and unfounded stories, and became our Dreyfusards, and one day we will restore their noble struggle. Even if we cannot repair the damage caused, even if their innocence cannot be proven to many Kabyles, the propaganda spread by Algeria with the complicity of some of our own is damaging them and their families.
Those who, fortunately, escaped this Machiavellian plot were able to pierce the darkness of this injustice with their voices, but, sadly, a great many innocent people still remain locked up, hemmed in by an oppressive silence, victims of a stigma that overwhelms them.
Their truly fervent commitment to preserving the environment and their dedicated fight for the self-determination of Kabylia have been overshadowed by the false accusations of terrorism that have unjustly befallen them; deprived of a voice, they continue to suffer cruel stigmatization and collective infamy. They endure a double punishment, that of being imprisoned in the jails and dungeons of the Algerian colonial junta, and that of living in a society that judges them, unjustly and arbitrarily, without proof or foundation.
The fate of these condemned Kabyles is sealed with the appeal trial, which took place behind closed doors. Lives have been sacrificed to allow Algeria to continue its massacre in secret, as well as its policy of “grand replacement” in Kabylia. These victims include artists, environmentalists and freedom activists. Today, their faces are associated with death, whereas they have always been defenders of life and freedom.
Their fate depends on our reaction and mobilization in the face of this unprecedented oppression. It is crucial for Kabylia to rehabilitate their lives and their innocence, and this must be the fight of all Kabyles, regardless of their political leanings. Our Dreyfus also have the right to aspire to a fair trial one day.
The “Larvaa Nat Iraten” affair will forever remain a dark chapter in the history of Kabylia, a region that has suffered so many losses. It underlines how a massive repressive operation against Kabylia was meticulously carried out so that the world would condemn innocent people, and how hatred against Kabyle people breeds atrocities when it comes from enemy Algeria, with the complicity of the international and national media.
There were 54 at first instance and 38 on appeal, but behind these statistics lie lives shattered forever and families bereaved, and humanist militants for universal values, incapable of harming a fly or a plant, let alone their families.
Specific laws have been created to condemn innocent Kabyles and present them to the world as terrorists in the “Larvaa Nat Iraten” affair, there is a compelling need to reconsider this cohabitation or trust in the Algerian colonial system. Believing in Algerian justice despite the overwhelming evidence of its involvement in unjust convictions is a suicidal position. The evidence of bias and manipulation of the justice system calls for caution and should encourage a reconsideration of faith in Algerian justice. The current confidence in this system represents an obstacle to the quest for truth and justice for those who have been unjustly convicted, as it compromises their dignity, their courage and their struggle.
Hestia Saithamus
Kabyle human rights activist
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