Mohamed Hassaïne
Mohamed Hassaïne () (born in Beni Amrane on 5 January 1945, and died in Larbatache on 28 February 1994) was an Algerian journalist. Early life. Hassaïne was born in 1945 in the village of Azela within the Thénia District in the lower Kabylia region of Algeria, east of the Khachna Massif and south-east of the town of Boumerdès. After primary and intermediate studies in Beni Amrane, Hassaïne continued his secondary education at a high school in Algiers, where he obtained the diploma of higher technician in agriculture, and began his professional career by working in the agricultural sub -directorate of Khemis El Khechna under the agricultural directorate of the Boumerdès Province. Socialist Vanguard Party. Hassaïne joined as a militant within the Socialist Vanguard Party (PAGS), and he knew how to translate the main political principles of the Algerian left into simple militant actions centered on taking care of the daily concerns of the humble people of his locality and province in lower Kabylia. Because of his communist political convictions and his commitment to the working and salaried masses, he had been threatened by the salafists since 1990, but he had not left Algeria to go into exile abroad . He could not be separated from family and friends, as death threats escalated in the last months of his life at the end of 1993, but he chose to stay with his pregnant wife. Alger Républicain. Hassaïne was one of the journalists for the daily Alger Républicain, along with Mohamed Benchicou, Fodil Mezali and Saïd Mekbel, when this press title, founded in 1938, reappeared as a news daily following the events of 1988 October riots. Thus, for several years, Hassaïne was the correspondent of the militant newspaper Alger Républicain, and his articles were mainly devoted to the problems of the  peasantry and the workers' struggles of workers and trade unionists. He was also responsible for preparing reports to follow in particular union activities at the level of the industrial zone of Rouiba-Reghaïa, one of the largest working-class zones in Algeria, and he also provided coverage of the football matches of several local teams in his province, while covering news items. Assassination. Hassaïne was kidnapped during the month of Ramadan on 28 February 1994, on leaving his house in Larbatache to go to his work in Alger républicain in Algiers, and a group of armed elements affiliated with Salafist  terrorism in Algeria approached him for force him to follow them to an unknown place. In fact, he was abducted around 7:30 a.m. on leaving his home by four men who belonged to Algerian terrorist groups, and he left behind a widowed wife and three orphan children. He was then taken to an area bordering his place of residence where he was assassinated by beheading, and the remains of his body were found lifeless several days after his enforced disappearance. Repentant terrorists who benefited from the 2005 Algerian national reconciliation then claimed that Hassaïne was assassinated on the very day  of his kidnapping. Indeed, his entire body was never found when he was 49, and no burial has been dedicated to him, so he is one of the victims of terrorism who has no known grave. The witnesses who had witnessed the kidnapping were terrorized and could not denounce his executioners, but a few years later, testimonies from neighbors but also from repentants reported that Hassaïne was kidnapped by four men from the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA) who were waiting for him in a vehicle around the corner. Commemoration. The journalists of the press of the Boumerdès Province  organized on 2 May 2009, a tournament in the commune of Boudouaou dedicated to the memory of the journalist Hassaïne, and to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day. The Boumerdès Province officially honored in October 2013 the memory of Hassaïne as well as four of his colleagues, like Othmane Senadjki, Rabah Hammouche, Mohamed Brara and Lamia Guettaf. A ceremony of meditation in memory of Hassaïne was organized on Friday 28 February 2014, at 9:00 am in downtown Larbatache in the presence of his wife, children, friends and colleagues, as well as the Manansaouche collective which was associated with this ceremony  where a minute of silence was observed in memory of the deceased. A vibrant tribute was paid on 28 February 2015, to journalist Hassaïne in a ceremony of meditation in his memory in the town of Larbatache where a wreath of flowers was laid at the place of the kidnapping. After the minute of silence in his memory and to all the victims of the terrorist hordes, the speakers retraced his fight for democracy and social justice through his pen and his union and militant actions for the benefit of the working masses.