Editing Algerian War (section)

=== French atrocities and use of torture ===
[[File:Torture during the Algerian War, Teleghma 1961.jpg|thumb|Algerian submerged in water and tortured by the French army using electricity, while two tires serve as containers (1961)]]

Massacres and torture were frequent from the beginning of the [[French Algeria|colonization of Algeria]], which started in 1830.<ref name="Kiernan2007"/> Atrocities committed against Algerians by the French army during the war included indiscriminate shootings into civilian crowds (such as during the [[Paris massacre of 1961]]), execution of civilians when rebel attacks occurred,<ref>{{cite book |first=Travis |last=Hannibal |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbWdlRL8WzMC&pg=PA137 |title=Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations: Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945 |publisher= Routledge |page=137|isbn=9780415531252 }}</ref> bombings of villages suspected of helping the FLN,<ref name="Aoudjit">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ztnVsIiefwC&pg=PA179 |title=The Algerian Novel and Colonial Discourse: Witnessing to a Différend |author=Abdelkader Aoudjit |year=2010 |page=179 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9781433110740 |quote=From 1957 to 1960 more than two million Algerians were thus relocated, leaving behind their houses. crops, and livestock, and over 800 villages were destroyed. |access-date=4 August 2021 |archive-date=28 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328161116/https://books.google.com/books?id=8ztnVsIiefwC&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Sexual violence in the Algerian War|rape]],<ref name=Hanssen>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History |author1=Jens Hanssen |author2=Amal N. Ghazal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGkLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |page=261 |year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-165279-0 }}</ref> [[disembowelment]] of pregnant women,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0iVpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |title= The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question |page=122 |author= Marnia Lazreg |year= 1994 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 9781134713301 |quote=Reports of French soldiers, especially members from the French Legion, cutting up pregnant women's bellies were not uncommon during the war}}</ref> imprisonment [[Starvation|without food]] in small cells (some of which were small enough to impede lying down),<ref name="VIDAL-NAQUET2014">{{cite book|author=Pierre VIDAL-NAQUET|title=Les crimes de l'armée française: Algérie, 1954-1962|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd09BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT118|date=20 November 2014|publisher=La Découverte|isbn=978-2-7071-8309-5|page=118}}</ref> [[Death flights|throwing detainees from helicopters]] and into the sea with concrete on their feet, and [[Premature burial|burying people alive]].<ref name="Huma00">{{cite news|url= http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2000-06-24/2000-06-24-227522|title= Prise de tête Marcel Bigeard, un soldat propre ?|newspaper= [[L'Humanité]]|date= 24 June 2000|language= fr|access-date= 15 February 2007|archive-date= 25 June 2005|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050625201336/http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2000-06-24/2000-06-24-227522|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>[http://ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&num_notice=8&total_notices=8&mc=Favre,%20Bernard Film testimony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128154820/http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice|date=2008-11-28}} by [[Paul Teitgen]], [[Jacques Duquesne (journalist)|Jacques Duquesne]] and [[Hélie Denoix de Saint Marc]] on the [[Institut national de l'audiovisuel|INA]] archive website</ref><ref>[http://www.elwatan.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=7095 Henri Pouillot, mon combat contre la torture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020203219/http://elwatan.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=7095 |date=2007-10-20 }}, ''[[El Watan]]'', 1 November 2004.</ref><ref>[http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article1778 Des guerres d'Indochine et d'Algérie aux dictatures d'Amérique latine], interview with [[Marie-Monique Robin]] by the [[Ligue des droits de l'homme]] (LDH, Human Rights League), 10 January 2007.  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181518/http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article1778 |date=30 September 2007 }}</ref> Torture methods included beatings, mutilations, burning, hanging by the feet or hands, torture by electroshock, [[waterboarding]], sleep deprivation and sexual assaults.<ref name=Hanssen/><ref name="Huma00"/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071020184243/http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptesrendus/branche.htm THE FRENCH ARMY AND TORTURE DURING THE ALGERIAN WAR (1954–1962)], [[Raphaëlle Branche]], Université de [[Rennes]], 18 November 2004</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Horne |first = Alistair |publication-date = 2006 |year = 1977 |title = A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 |publisher = New York Review |isbn = 978-1-59017-218-6 |pages=198–200}}</ref><ref name="Rey">Text published in ''Vérité Liberté'' n°9 May 1961.</ref>

During the war, the French military relocated entire villages  to {{Lang|de|centres de regroupements}} (regrouping centres), which were built for forcibly displaced civilian populations, in order to separate them from FLN guerrilla combatants. Over 8,000 villages were destroyed.<ref name="Kevin Shillington" /><ref name="Aoudjit"/><ref name="Hill 2009 p. 60">{{cite book|last=Hill|first=J.N.C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REwOAQAAMAAJ|title=Identity in Algerian Politics: The Legacy of Colonial Rule|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|year=2009|isbn=978-1-58826-608-8}}</ref> Over 2 million Algerians were resettled in regrouping internment camps, with some being [[Unfree labour|forced into labour]].<ref name="Fabien">SACRISTE Fabien, « Les « regroupements » de la guerre d'Algérie, des « villages stratégiques » ? », Critique internationale, 2018/2 (N° 79), p. 25-43. DOI : 10.3917/crii.079.0025. URL : https://www.cairn.info/revue-critique-internationale-2018-2-page-25.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516092842/https://www.cairn.info/revue-critique-internationale-2018-2-page-25.htm |date=16 May 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Marc |last=Bernardot |title=Camps d'étrangers |publisher=Terra |location=Paris |year=2008 |isbn=9782914968409 |page=127 |language=fr}}</ref>

A notable instance of rape was that of [[Djamila Boupacha]], a 23-years old Algerian woman who was arrested in 1960, accused of attempting to bomb a cafe in Algiers. Her confession was obtained through torture and rape. Her subsequent trial affected French public opinion about the French army's methods in Algeria after publicity of the case by [[Simone de Beauvoir]] and [[Gisèle Halimi]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Political Writings|last=Beauvoir|first=Simone de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwNYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|date=2012-07-15|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252036941|pages=272|access-date=23 October 2022|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023130216/https://books.google.com/books?id=EwNYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|url-status=live}}</ref>

Torture was also used by both sides during the [[First Indochina War]] (1946–54).<ref>[[Mohamed Harbi]], ''La guerre d'Algérie''</ref><ref name=":3">[[Benjamin Stora]], ''La torture pendant la guerre d'Algérie''</ref><ref>[[Raphaëlle Branche]], ''La torture et l'armée pendant la guerre d'Algérie, 1954–1962'', Paris, Gallimard, 2001 See also [http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptesrendus/branche.htm The French Army and Torture During the Algerian War (1954–1962)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020184243/http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptesrendus/branche.htm |date=2007-10-20 }}, Raphaëlle Branche, Université de [[Rennes]], 18 November 2004 {{in lang|en}}</ref> [[Claude Bourdet]] denounced acts of torture in Algeria on 6 December 1951, in the magazine ''[[L'Observateur]]'', rhetorically asking, "Is there a [[Gestapo]] in Algeria?". D. Huf, in his seminal work on the subject, argued that the use of torture was one of the major factors in developing French opposition to the war.<ref>[[David Huf]], ''Between a Rock and a Hard Place: France and Algeria, 1954–1962''</ref> Huf argued, "Such tactics sat uncomfortably with France's revolutionary history, and brought unbearable comparisons with [[Nazi Germany]]. The French national psyche would not tolerate any parallels between their experiences of occupation and their colonial mastery of Algeria." General [[Paul Aussaresses]] admitted in 2000 that systematic torture techniques were used during the war and justified them. He also recognized the assassination of lawyer [[Ali Boumendjel]] and the head of the FLN in Algiers, [[Larbi Ben M'Hidi]], which had been disguised as suicides.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=702899|title=L'accablante confession du général Aussaresses sur la torture en Algérie|newspaper=Le Monde|date=3 May 2001|access-date=12 February 2007|archive-date=4 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904085335/http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=702899|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bigeard|Marcel Bigeard]], who called FLN activists "savages", claimed torture was a "necessary evil".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-90746,0.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100219041813/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-90746,0.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 February 2010 |title=Guerre d'Algérie: le général Bigeard et la pratique de la torture|newspaper=Le Monde|date=4 July 2000}}</ref><ref>[http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2000-12-05/2000-12-05-235797 Torture Bigeard: " La presse en parle trop "] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050624162750/http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2000-12-05/2000-12-05-235797 |date=June 24, 2005 }}, ''[[L'Humanité]]'', May 12, 2000 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> To the contrary, General [[Jacques Massu]] denounced it, following Aussaresses's revelations and, before his death, pronounced himself in favor of an official condemnation of the use of torture during the war.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070209225257/http://www.aidh.org/faits_documents/algerie/verite.html La torture pendant la guerre d'Algérie / 1954 – 1962 40 ans après, l'exigence de vérité]}}, AIDH</ref>

Bigeard's justification of torture has been criticized by [[Joseph Doré]], archbishop of Strasbourg, [[Marc Lienhard]], president of the Lutheran Church of Augsbourg Confession in Alsace-Lorraine, and others.<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-92611,0.html Guerre d'Algérie: Mgr Joseph Doré et Marc Lienhard réagissent aux déclarations du général Bigeard justifiant la pratique de la torture par l'armée française] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105232819/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-92611,0.html |date=2007-11-05 }}, ''[[Le Monde]]'', July 15, 2000 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> In June 2000, Bigeard declared that he was based in [[Sidi Ferruch]], a torture center where Algerians were murdered. Bigeard qualified [[Louisette Ighilahriz]]'s revelations, published in the ''Le Monde'' newspaper on June 20, 2000, as "lies". An ALN activist, Louisette Ighilahriz had been tortured by Massu.<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=88827 "Le témoignage de cette femme est un tissu de mensonges. Tout est faux, c'est une manoeuvre"], ''[[Le Monde]]'', June 22, 2000 {{in lang|fr}}  {{Webarchive|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100219041927/http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=88827 |date=February 19, 2010 }}</ref> However, since Massu's revelations, Bigeard has admitted the use of torture, although he denies having personally used it, and has declared, "You are striking the heart of an 84-year-old man." Bigeard also recognized that Larbi Ben M'Hidi was assassinated and that his death was disguised as a suicide.

In 2018 France officially admitted that torture was systematic and routine.<ref>{{cite news|title=France admits systematic torture during Algeria war for first time|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/13/france-state-responsible-for-1957-death-of-dissident-maurice-audin-in-algeria-says-macron|newspaper=The Guardian|date=13 September 2018|access-date=14 September 2018|archive-date=17 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517042650/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/13/france-state-responsible-for-1957-death-of-dissident-maurice-audin-in-algeria-says-macron|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://calrev.org/2019/04/30/french-soft-power-resetting-african-relations/|title=France Resets African Relations: a Potential Lesson for President Trump|last=Genin|first=Aaron|date=2019-04-30|website=The California Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-01|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501003400/https://calrev.org/2019/04/30/french-soft-power-resetting-african-relations/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/15/france-may-have-apologied-atrocities-algeria-war-still-casts/|title=France may have apologised for atrocities in Algeria, but the war still casts a long shadow|last=Samuel|first=Henry|date=2018-09-15|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2019-05-01|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501011332/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/15/france-may-have-apologied-atrocities-algeria-war-still-casts/|url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Algerian woman sexually abused by the French army.jpg|Algerian woman sexually abused by the French Army
File:Photo de l'infirmerie et des locaux disiplinaire du camp de Thol.jpg|Camp de Thol, one of the French concentration camps for Algerians used during the war<ref>{{cite journal |language=fr |author=Arthur Grosjean |title=Internement, emprisonnement et guerre d'indépendance algérienne en métropole : l'exemple du camp de Thol (1958-1965) |journal=Criminocorpus. Revue d'Histoire de la justice, des crimes et des peines |date=10 March 2014 |doi=10.4000/criminocorpus.2676 |s2cid=162123460 |url=http://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/2676 |access-date=7 November 2022 |archive-date=7 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107072404/https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/2676 |url-status=live }}</ref>
File:General Marcel Bigeard young.jpg|[[Marcel Bigeard]]'s troops were accused of practicing "[[death flights]]", whose victims were called ''crevettes Bigeard'' ([[:fr:Crevettes Bigeard|fr]]), "Bigeard shrimp".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVchrDVoJSIC&pg=PA226 |title=Small Wars, Faraway Places - Global Insurrection and the Making of the Modern World, 1945-1965 |author=Michael Burleigh |year=2013 |page=226 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781101638033 |access-date=23 October 2022 |archive-date=23 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023130214/https://books.google.com/books?id=PVchrDVoJSIC&pg=PA226 |url-status=live }}</ref>
File:Gégène - Génératrice pour torture à l'électricité.JPG|"Gégène", a device used by the French forces to generate electricity; electrodes would then be attached to the victim's body parts for electric torture.
</gallery>