Ferhat Mehenni

Who is Ferhat Mehenni?

http://www.gusipeaceprizeinternational.org/2013-laureates.html

Ferhat Mehenni also known as Ferhat Imazighen Imula was born in Illoula Oumalou, Tizi Ouzou Province and is a Kabyle singer and political activist, the founder and first President of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie. Since June 1, 2010, he is the President of the Provisional Government of Kabylia, a government the movement set up in exile in France. Laureate Gusi Peace Prize of the prestigious international organization since July 23, 2013. Having graduated from the University of Algiers with a degree in political science, Ferhat made his first steps into the world of music in 1973 by winning the Algiers Modern Music Festival's first prize. It was soon after this success that he began his career as a protest singer and political activist. He was notably hostile towards the Algerian government and Islamists; this led to him being arrested 13 times, imprisoned for three years, and tortured by government forces. After the Black Spring massacre in Kabylie triggered by the Algerian gendarmes' killing of a young Kablye man, Masinissa Guermah in detention, he established the MAK, Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie, a political movement calling for self-government in Kabylia. The assassination of his eldest son in 2001 is regarded by some as a punishment to his fight for autonomy. Though others suspect it was a case of mistaken identity and that Ferhat was the real target.