Algeria’s Justice and Development Front: Constitutional Amendments Destroy Islam

Leader of Justice and Development Front (FJD) Abdallah Djaballah (File photo: AFP)
Leader of Justice and Development Front (FJD) Abdallah Djaballah (File photo: AFP)
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Algeria’s Justice and Development Front: Constitutional Amendments Destroy Islam

Leader of Justice and Development Front (FJD) Abdallah Djaballah (File photo: AFP)
Leader of Justice and Development Front (FJD) Abdallah Djaballah (File photo: AFP)

The leader of the Algerian Islamist Justice and Development Front, Abdallah Djaballah, said the constitutional draft amendment has been proposed by figures aiming to secularize the society and destroy Islam.

The Movement of Society for Peace as well as a number of opposition parties have rejected the proposed amendments over issues relating to identity and Islam.

The draft is expected to be referred to the parliament for a vote, after which it will be submitted for a referendum by the end of the year.

Presidential aide Mohammed Laqab has previously announced that the text has been drafted in French and then translated to Arabic, which angered the Islamist movements and conservatives.

The constitutional amendment creates a new position for the vice president, and replaces the “first minister” with a prime minister appointed by the president, and not named by a parliamentary majority.

It also proposes replacing the “constitutional court” with the “constitutional council.”

In a statement, Djaballah slammed the draft amendment, saying its clauses contradict the references of the Algerian Muslim people.

He said it was based on the corrupt Western and French thought, which can’t maintain the interests of Algerians, their rights and freedoms.

Djaballah protested the mechanisms adopted in drafting the text, which he said were determined by secular elites.

He explained that the draft was sent to nearly 2,000 parties, organizations, and figures, while giving the constitutional committee the right to accept or reject their comments.

The Islamist leader indicated that the process contradicted the public service duty in consulting specialists. He noted that the committee aims to impose its own project that runs against the nation’s principles, and threatens its language, unity and sovereignty.

Political activists have called for modifying article 2 of the constitution which states “Islam is the religion of the state,” on the pretext that it “excludes Algerians of other faiths.”

Algerians were also divided on another article which declares the Amazigh as well as Arabic as "a national and official language of the state.”

The Justice and Development Front called for replacing the committee of 15 constitutional experts, with a committee of competent figures with different specialties.

It stressed that the new committee should set a new draft constitution that respects the principles of the people and maintains the achievements of the 1954 revolution and the protests of February 2019, which ousted former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The committee should establish legitimate institutions that meet the ambitions of Algerians in achieving justice, equality, freedom, and progress, according to the Front.



Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Was Killed Last Year inside the War Operations Room, Aide Says

People look through the rubble of buildings which were leveled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)
People look through the rubble of buildings which were leveled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Was Killed Last Year inside the War Operations Room, Aide Says

People look through the rubble of buildings which were leveled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)
People look through the rubble of buildings which were leveled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the group's war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.

A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2023, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground.

The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the fighters into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a US-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27.

Nasrallah “used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details.

Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.

Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Qassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month.

Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa.

Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.