Khalida Toumi

Khalida Toumi (; born 13 March 1958), also known as Khalida Messaoudi , is an Algerian politician. She was the Minister of Communication and Culture until April 2014. She is also a feminist activist, and a pioneer of Algerian feminism. In 2022, she was convicted of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison.

Early life Khalida Toumi was known as Khalida Messaoudi ou la soufadja before she reclaimed her maiden name. She was born in 1958 in Ain-Bessem, Kabylie, After graduating from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, she taught mathematics until 1993. the Algerian academic, author and expert on French and Francophone issues.

Early career As a feminist activist, in 1981, she founded the Collectif féminin (Women's Grouping) not only to oppose the ministerial interdiction on Algerian women leaving the country unless accompanied by a male family member, and she was injured in a June 1994 bomb attack on a secularist demonstration.

Minister of Culture and Communication

In May 2002, she was appointed Minister of Culture and Communication, replacing Mohammed Abbou, as well as the government's spokesperson in 2003, the first woman ever to hold that job. She held her ministerial post until April 2014. During her tenure, the national culture budget grew from $64 million to over $300 million.

In 2008, Toumi ordered that Mohammed Benchicou's Journal d'un homme libre (A free man's notebook) be seized at the printers due to its allegedly antihistorical, subversive and racist content.

In 2012, she attended the laying of the foundation stone for the Algiers Opera House at Ouled Fayet.

In 2014 she issued a decree that historic Algiers slaughterhouses were not to be demolished and that they were pending classification as sites of national culture heritage.

Professional experience 1984-1991 Teacher of mathematics 1992-1993 Member of the (CCN): Conseil consultatif national. 1997-2002 Deputy of Algiers at the People's National Assembly (l’Assemblée populaire nationale). 2000-2001 Vice-president of the (CNRSE) Commission nationale de réforme du système éducatif (National Commission to Reform the Educational System)

Political activities

May 1985 founding member and president of the first Association of Independent Women. March 1985 founding member and vice-president of the first Algerian League of Human Rights. January 1992 Member of the CNSA and of the CCN. April 1996 – 2001 Member of the secularist party: the RCD, excluded in July 2001. 1997-2002 Deputy of Algiers at the (APN) under the RCD label October 1993 Vice president of Mouvement pour la République (MPR). 9 May 2003 Algerian Minister of Communication and Culture.

Conviction

In 2022, Toumi was convicted of corruption, including squandering public funds, abuse of office and granting undue privileges, and was sentenced to six years in prison.