Fassi, Allal al- (1910–1974)

Moroccan nationalist leader. Arrested in 1937 by the colonial authorities, he was sent into exile in Gabon and his organization, the Parti National (PN), dissolved. Upon his return in 1946, his party was already reconstituted as the Parti de l'Istiqlal (PI) advocating this time the cause of independence. He voluntarily decided to go to Egypt and worked there to rally support for Moroccan independence until his return in 1956. Becoming president of the PI in 1960, he joined the opposition and remained an ardent defender of his country's territorial claims.

Among the first prominent figures of the nationalist movement in Morocco, his early struggle was for greater political, civil and educational rights for Moroccans.