Islamic Armed Movement

The Islamic Armed Movement or Algerian Islamic Armed Movement or Armed Islamic Movement (MIA, from French: Mouvement Islamique Armé; Arabic: الحركة الإسلامية المسلحة, romanized: Harakat El Islamiyyat El Musallaha) was an Islamic guerrilla group in Algeria in the 1980's and 90's. The group was founded by Mustafa Bouyali in 1981 or April 1982 or July 1982 after a confrontation with security services. Bouyali originally was a preacher at a mosque in Algiers where he had gained a following. In 1979 he formed the Group for Defense Against the Illicit, pressuring the government to implement Islamic law and to adopt policies that reflected "real" Muslim values. This group attacked bars and individuals, but had no real power, so Bouyali decided to turn to armed struggle. He was relentlessly harassed by security services though, due to his speaking out against the regime and his support for an Islamic state. This caused him to go into hiding at his family home in April 1982 and later hiding with Hadi Hamoudi near Bouguerra mountain near El Aouinet. The group, which carried out attacks against the government in the Larbaa region, was a loose association of small groups of which Bouyali proclaimed himself the emir. The group engaged in guerrilla warfare similar to the Maquis of WWII, and was based in the rural areas of the Atlas Mountains, specifically targeting the Mitidja. They often attracted unemployed young men because "its rhetoric evoked 'memories of the bandits of honor in the mountains, paralleling the life of the Prophet and drawing on the original war of liberation'". One of Bouyali's supporters was Ali Benhadj, the man who would go onto be the vice-president of the FIS. In 1983, the Bouyali group attacked a porudction unit in Ain Naadja, Algiers and stole the worker's salaries. On April 12, 1984, Sheikh Soltani died in his home during house arrest. The next day without any government mention of his death, a large Islamic gathering of 25,000 appeared at his funeral in Kouba. In the wake of this demonstration, the trial of a large group of Islamists scheduled for May 13 was called off and instead, a group of 92 political prisoners were released. On August 21, 1985, Bouyali and his militants robbed a factory of ₤110,000 and on August 25, 26th, 27th or 29th, 1985, MIA insurgents headed by Bouyali, attacked a police school in Soumaâ, killing an officer and seizing 340 weapons, and more than 18,000 pieces of ammunition. In 1986, Bouyali organized clandestine cells, composed of veteran mujahideen members from Afghanistan. The group of several hundred militants lasted for 5 years, until Bouyali was killed on January 3, or February 1987, (most likely January 3) when police received info from Bouyali's driver. Bouyali and 5 others were driving in the mountains near Larbaa when the driver flashed on his lights and shots rang out from both sides of the road. Bouyali's final act was to shoot the driver in the head seconds before he was killed by a bullet to the forehead. All 6 including the driver were killed in the final clashes as well as a policeman who was the head of the elite security forces. Other important MIA members such as Abdelkader Chebouti and Mansouri Meliani were sentenced to death and subsequently jailed, but released in 1989 and pardoned in 1990 due to political reforms. Meliani would later be arrested in July 1992 and executed in 1993 after he and Chebouti were captured after a battle in Ashour, a few hundred meters from Bouyali's unmarked grave. After the death of Bouyali, the MIA effectively fell apart and most members were arrested. On June 15, or 20 1987, the largest trial of Algerian Islamists started, with 202 defendants and four in absentia represented by a 49 man defense council. On July 10, four were sentenced to death, seven to twelve years, 166 to between one and 15 years and 15 were aquitted.

Rebirth

In March and April 1992, after the Algerian coup, Abdelkader Chebouti, along with Said Makhloufi, a former Algerian propaganda officer and Azzedin Ba'a re established the the MIA with ex-Bouyalists and other affiliated group members. There is disagreement about the identity of the founders though, some say Makhloufi founded the Islamic State Movement (MEI) in 1993 while others say the MEI was founded by Meliani in early 92' while others still refer to Chebouti's group as the Islamic State Movement. This group founded the foundation for resistance leading to the Algerian Civil War as veterans of the MIA were the ones that launched the armed rebellion in 1992. The MIA later became the AIS in 1994 when it merged with it.