Algeria Frees Islamic Front Leader
07/03/2006| IslamWeb
Algerian authorities have released a leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front as part of a mass pardon.
This follows Ali Belhadj's arrest last year for praising Iraq's resistance despite being barred from making public statements.
Belhadj, the group's former No 2, went to visit his mother's grave at the Kouba cemetery after his release on Monday, his brother Abdelhafid told reporters.
Belhadj's mother died while he was in the El Harrach prison in a suburb of Algiers.
Belhadj was barred from political or charitable activity and from making public statements when he was released in 2003 after serving a 12-year term for threatening national security.
Belhadj refused to sign the order condemning himself and fellow Salvation Front leader Abass Madani to silence.
Still, it was considered legally binding.
Internal conflict
Last July, Belhadj praised the Iraqi anti-government uprising on Aljazeera television and condoned the kidnapping in Iraq of two Algerian diplomats, who were later killed.
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