A Proposal For a Law Aiming to Authorize France to Restitute the Algerian Skulls

The proposal for enacting a law that would allow France to restitute the skulls of Algerian martyrs will be presented during a special session of the parliament scheduled for next March after it was submitted nearly a year ago to the French Senate, and was approved, the French RFI MP Carlos Martens Bilongo revealed, in a statement to Echorouk.

The parliamentary session that was scheduled to consider the bill was postponed last November, due to the racist campaign against the left-wing MP of African origins, during a plenary session of the French Senate, by one of the far-right’s RN MPs, Grégoire de Fournas, as he directed racist expressions to him that led to the suspension of the session by the president of the French Parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet, at the time, and the RN’s MP was punished.

This proposal came within the framework of a draft law document in the French National Assembly, dated November 2, 2022, N° 398 titled “A Proposal for a Law Aiming to Authorize France to Restitute the Algerian Skulls”, which copy is available to Echorouk, is presented by 84 MPs and included three articles, the first of which stipulated that; “From the date of entry into force of this law and by way of derogation from the principle of the inalienability of French public preserves set out in article L. 451-5 of the heritage code, the thirteen Algerian skulls kept in the national preserves placed under the care of the National Museum of Natural History – Musée de l’Homme, cease to be part of these preserves”.

Article 2 states that “the administrative authority has, from the same date (the law’s entry into force), a period of one month at most to hand over these archives (skulls) to the authorities of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria”.

The 3rd Article stipulates that the twenty-four skulls that were deposited with the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in July 2020 are definitively returned to the latter.

The French Association “Le Grand Maghreb” also submitted a request to the Ministry of Higher Education, the Environment and Scientific Research to facilitate the procedures for handing over the skulls to Algeria, to enable the latter to bury these skulls with dignity in their original land, adding that “France, known internationally for its defense of human rights, is not honored by depriving martyrs of a dignified end, which is burial, just as the history of France does not accept dark stages in its historical past”, according to the expression of the source.

Marking Algeria’s Independence Day on July,2,2020, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that the country would receive the remains of 24 of its independence fighters killed during the Algerian popular resistance against French colonialism. In a military ceremony, he announced that “in a few hours” military planes arriving from France would land at the Houari Boumediene Airport with the remains of the martyrs.

“They [martyrs] have been deprived of their natural and human right to be buried for more than 170 years. Led by Cherif Boubaghla and Sheikh Ahmed Bouziane, the leader of the Zaatcha (Oasis) Resistance and their brothers, the remains include a skull of a young man who was younger than 18 years old,” said Tebboune.

French colonial rule faced fierce resistance in Algeria, which was then met with a brutal crackdown by colonial forces.

In the 19th century, France shipped off the skulls of 37 resistance fighters to be stored at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.

Algeria has been demanding to return the skulls since 2011 for their burial — a demand rejected by Paris.

Later, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that French officials were ready to enact a law that would allow them to hand over the remains, though the process was delayed for years.

Tebboune pledged after he came to power on Dec. 19, 2019, to restore the fighters’ remains and bury them in Algeria.

France occupied Algeria for 132 years starting July 5, 1830, until July 5, 1962, when the country declared its independence from colonial rule.

During the struggle for independence, more than 1.5 million Algerians were martyred, while hundreds of thousands more were injured, went missing or were forced from their homes.