Cheikh Mohand Amokrane Belhaddad

Mohand Amokrane was the eldest son and military arm of Cheikh Mohand Ameziane Belhaddad, supreme master of the Rahmaniyya Sufi order. In April 1871, when his father proclaimed the armed Jihad of Independence in Seddouk, Mohand Amokrane took personal command of an army of over 100,000 mountain fighters.

He coordinated the assaults against colonial fortresses from Bordj Bou Arreridj and Sétif to the gates of Algiers. Captured after months of heroic combat, he was tried by colonial tribunals and deported thousands of miles across the Pacific to the penal colony of New Caledonia, where he died as a proud, unyielding Algerian patriot.