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Gisèle Halimi

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Gisèle Halimi
Halimi in 2009
Permanent RepresentativeofFrance toUNESCO
In office 13 April 1985 – 1 September 1986
President	François Mitterrand
Preceded by	Jacqueline Baudrier
Succeeded by	Marie-Claude Cabana
Member of the National Assembly for Isère's 4th constituency
In office 21 June 1981 – 9 September 1984
Preceded by	Jacques-Antoine Gaur
Succeeded by	Maurice Rival
Personal details
Born	Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb (1927-07-27)27 July 1927 La Goulette, Tunis, Tunisia
Died	28 July 2020(2020-07-28) (aged 93) 7th arrondissement of Paris, France
Nationality	Tunisian French
Spouse(s)	Paul Halimi (divorced) Claude Faux
Children	3 (including Serge Halimi)
Alma mater	University of Paris Sciences Po
Profession	Lawyer

Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist.^[1]

Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a modest, practicing Jewish Berber family (to Édouard and Fortunée "Fritna" Taïeb). She was educated at a French lycéeinTunis, and then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. Her childhood and the ways in which she blends a Jewish-Muslim identity are discussed in her memoir, Le lait de l'oranger. She was first married to Paul Halimi and then to Claude Faux.^[2] She died the day after her 93rd birthday, on 28 July 2020.^[3]

In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunis bar,^[4] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956.^[4] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha in 1960, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers,^[4] and wrote a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case.^[4] She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country, and was counsel in many cases related to women's issues,^[4] such as the 1972 Bobigny abortion trial (of a 17-year-old accused of procuring an abortion after having been raped),^[4] which attracted national attention.

In 1967, she chaired the Russell Tribunal, which was initiated by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre to investigate and evaluate American military action in Vietnam.^{[citation needed]}

In 1971, she founded the feminist group Choisir (transl. To Choose)^[5] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having illegal abortions, of which she was one.^[4][6]

In 1972, Choisir formed itself into a clearly reformist body, and the campaign greatly influenced the passing of the law allowing contraception and abortion carried through by Simone Veil in 1974.^{[citation needed]}

In1981, she was elected to the French National Assembly,^[4] as an independent Socialist, and was Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987 she was a French legate to UNESCO.^[7]

In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC.^[8]

• An unlikely alliance. The Guardian, 12 August 2003. Accessed 2011-01-15.

• General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 9781929631308.
• Natalie Edwards, The Autobiographies of Julia Kristeva, Gisèle Halimi, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous : beyond "I" versus "we". (Chicago: Northwestern University, 2005) ISBN 0542173042.

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