Henri Curiel (13 September 1914 – 4 May 1978) was a left-wing political activist in Egypt and France. Born in Egypt, Curiel led the communist Democratic Movement for National Liberation until he was expelled from the country in 1950. Settling in France, Curiel aided the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale and other national liberation causes, including in South Africa and Latin America. In 1978 Curiel was assassinated in Paris; his murderer has never been identified. Biography Early life and family Curiel was born in Cairo to an Italian Sephardic family. He became an Egyptian citizen in 1935. His brother Raoul Curiel became a respected archaeologist and numismatist, specializing in Central Asian studies. A cousin was Eugenio Curiel, a physicist and anti-fascist militant who was murdered in Italy in 1945. Another cousin was the noted British KGB spy George Blake. In an interview with Jean Lesieur, published in the French magazine L'Express on Feb 21, 1991, the latter said that the older Curiel had been influential as a communist in shaping his political views, as Blake met him as a teenager. His son is the French journalist Alain Gresh, who was born in Cairo in 1948 and grew up in Paris. Political career in Egypt In 1939 Curiel, his brother Raoul and Georges Henein launched Don Quichotte, a French language Communist weekly. In 1943 he founded the communist Egyptian Movement for National Liberation (HAMETU) which in 1947 became the Democratic Movement for National Liberation (HADETU). He was repeatedly arrested, along with many other communists. Despite his Egyptian citizenship, he was forced to emigrate in 1950. The Democratic Movement for National Liberation was an active participant in the 1952 revolution led by the free officers and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolutionary council and the free officers had many members from HADETU; the most eminent of these were Khaled Mohy el din, Yousef Sedeek and Ahmed Hamroush. Curiel settled in France and led a circle of Jewish communist emigres from Egypt known as the "Rome Group". Anti-colonial activism in Paris Curiel worked for the Jeanson network which supported the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) during the Algerian War (1954–62). He was arrested by the French security services in 1960. Curiel was a founder of "Solidarité", a support group for various anti-colonial and opposition movements in the Third World (in particular Africa and Latin America), such as the African National Congress (ANC). In 1976