Malika Gaïd

Malika Gaïd (1933–1957) was an Algerian nurse who joined the National Liberation Army (ALN) to care for the wounded and to fight for independence from the French during the Algerian War in 1955. In June 1958, she was shot dead by a French soldier while defending the wounded in a cave near M'Chedallah. Gaïd is now remembered as one of the heroic martyrs of Algerian independence. Along with other martyrs, she was commemorated in a series of postage stamps in 2019.

Biography Born on 24 August 1933 in the Belcourt district of Algiers, Malika Gaïd was the youngest of seven children in a literate middle-class family, keen to participate in the cause for independence. Her father, Mohand Amokrane, was a schoolteacher.