Madani, Abassi (1931– )

Algerian academic and politician. In 1989 he formed the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), which was outlawed in the aftermath of the cancellation of the 1991 legislative elections. Accused of sedition, he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in 1992. He was placed under house arrest in 1997.

He joined the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) in 1955. Arrested by the colonial administration, he was released in 1962. He remained a militant of the FLN party until the end of the 1970s. After that, the rupture with the FLN was to be concomitant with his increasing involvement in the Islamist movement where he virulently attacked the political establishment and championed the application of Islamic law (Shari'a).