Algeria detains Balhah for praising insurgency in Iraq

The Algerian authorities detained a chairman for the Islamic Front For Salvation after statements he had made to al-Jazeera Satelite TV on Wednesday commending the insurgency in Iraq.

A security Algerian source said that the second ranking man in the organization, Ali Balhah, who was released 2 years earlier after he had spent 12 years in prison, was taken to one of the police centers in Algiers.

Balhah stressed to al-Jazeera in a via telephone interview that he belongs to what he described "al-Mujahideen" (struggle fighters) who fight the forces led by the USA in Iraq.

He also congratulated "al-Mujahideen" in Iraq and appealed to "God Almighty" to help them in the face of the occupation forces, adding that "the Sharia (Islamic law) says that 'supporters of occupation face their same fate.'"

Balhah's detention comes at a time when al-Qaida organization in Iraq announced the killing of the Algerian diplomats who were kidnapped last week after they were accused of representing a "non-believer government."

Worthy mentioning that the Algerian forces released Balhah in 2003 along with the leader of the front Abbas Madani, and they were banned from practicing any political activity. At the time of their release, Madani accepted release conditions imposed on him, but Balhah refused these conditions and this resulted in his repeated detentions.