Ex-premier’s son dies in Algeria protests

By Abdul Razak bin Abdullah

ALGIERS (AA) – The son of Benyoucef Benkhedda, the first prime minister of Algeria after independence, has died in protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s planned bid for a fifth term in office, his brother confirmed on Saturday.

Thousands of Algerians demonstrated on Friday against plans by Bouteflika, who is currently receiving medical treatment in Switzerland, to contest presidential polls slated for April 18.

In a Facebook post, Salim Benkhedda said that his brother Hassan had participated in the protests near the presidential palace in central Algiers on Friday.

He said he lost contact with his brother when security forces violently dispersed the protest.

Benkhedda said he was later informed by hospital officials that the body of his brother had been transferred into the hospital.

Local media said Hassan, who suffers from epilepsy, had died due to a stampede among protesters.

Benkhedda has held the Algerian authorities and “thugs” responsible for the death of his brother.

Benyoucef Benkhedda was a leader of the Algerian revolution against the French colonialist rule. He became the first prime minister in post-independence Algeria in 1962. He died in 2003.

Last month, Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front nominated the 81-year-old Bouteflika -- who has ruled Algeria since 1999 -- to run for a fifth term in office.

Opposition leaders, for their part, have repeatedly urged the aging president, who in 2013 was treated for a blood clot in the brain, to refrain from contesting next month’s election.