Relatives of Ali Belhadj, a leader of Algeria’s banned Islamic Salvation Front, wait outside a court in Algiers. Belhadj was detained on Wednesday after it was reported that he praised insurgents in Iraq, July 28, 2005 (REUTERS)
ALGIERS (AP) – Police detained a leader of Algeria”s banned Islamic Salvation Front after he publicly praised Iraq”s insurgency and condoned the killing of two kidnapped Algerian diplomats, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Ali Belhadj, who was freed from prison in 2003 after serving a 12-year sentence, was detained by police on Wednesday after making the comments in a telephone interview with Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, El Watan newspaper reported.
The report could not immediately be confirmed with police or government officials.
Iraq”s most feared terror group, al-Qaeda in Iraq, said on Wednesday that it had killed the two Algerian envoys, Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi, because of Algeria”s ties to the United States and its crackdown on Islamic extremists.
"I congratulate the mujahedeen in Iraq," Belhadj was quoted as telling Al-Jazeera, adding that the insurgency was "the only response to the occupation" by U.S.-led forces.
"By accrediting ambassadors and diplomats in a country that is under occupation, the government is only legitimizing this occupation, which is unacceptable under Sharia law," he was quoted as saying. Police took him from his home to Algier”s main police station, El Watan reported.
Algeria observed a minute of silence on Thursday at noon for the slain diplomats. In the capital, bustling traffic came to a standstill and pedestrians stopped in their tracks.
Belhadj was released from prison in 2003 along with the Abassi Madani, who was head of the now banned FIS party. Both had served 12-year terms on charges of threatening national security. They were barred from political activity and from making public statements.
The FIS rose to power in Algeria”s first multiparty national elections in December 1991. The army canceled the second round of the vote, igniting an insurgency that has left an estimated 120,000 civilians, security forces and insurgents dead.
Undated picture shows Ali Belaroussi, Algeria’s top envoy to Iraq who was killed by the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq headed by Abu Musab Al-Zaraqawi (EPA)
Undated picture shows Algerian diplomat Azzedine Belkadi who was killed by the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab al-Zaraqawi (EPA)
A daughter of slain Algerian mission chief in Iraq, Ali Billaroussi, cries from the balcony of her parent’s house in Algiers as they held a minute of silence in memory of the killing of the two kidnapped Algerian envoys in Iraq (REUTERS)