The Dalila Maschino affair

Dalila Maschino

   This high-rise at 4850 Cote-des-Neiges was the scene of an event 35 years ago this April that made headlines not only here but abroad and was even covered in publications such as People magazine.
   It has also been subsequently thrashed around in historical, academic and every other type of publication for its elements of romance, religion, culture, international relations and even conspiracy theory.
   Dalila Maschino, nee Dalila Zeghar, was kidnapped from an apartment in this building at 4 a.m. on April 25, 1978, drugged and put on a plane to her homeland of Algeria by her billionaire brother who insisted she marry a Muslim man of his choosing.
   Dalila, one of six sisters, had met Frenchman Denis Maschino in 1974 when both were students in Algeria. Denis was there because his father Maurice had been involved in the liberation of Algeria but young Denis had stayed on after his father returned to France.
  Dalila defied brother Messaoud's order to marry a man of his choosing by marrying Maschino.
  Messaoud Zeghar was one of the wealthiest, most pro-American businessmen in Algeria at the time and has been variously described as America's man in Algeria and an important figure serving the CIA.
The young lovers fled to wed in Paris in March 1975 and then moved to Montreal, he taught French and she waitressed before both returned to school to pursue their university educations.

Kidnapper Messaoud
Zeghar

   Messaoud visited Montreal several times to persuade his sister to return and marry the man of his choosing and eventually she refused to see him.
   He then sent their sisters to help persuade Dalila to return. On April 24 they went dinner on Mount Royal and out dancing until 4 a.m. and when they returned, the family spiked her tea and Dalila found herself being wheeled through airports in a wheelchair, not knowing where she was.
   Witnesses said that they heard her repeatedly say, "I'm in an airport," but others in her group replied, "no you're in a hospital."
   Airport authorities ignored protocol by allowing her through and the relatives produced a fake passport with several inaccuracies.
   They few her to Algeria on her brother's creaky old Boein flown by a retired pilot.
   Messaoud Zeghar was a close friend of Algerian President Houari Boumedienne who didn't intervene in the situation in spite of the international outcry.
   The kidnapped Dalila managed to sneak love letters out to her husband Denis Maschino begging him to wait for her to be freed and a Montreal newspaper managed to get her on the phone, where she further complained about her situation.

Reunited: March 1981

   Denis went to Algeria and converted to Islam in hopes of getting her back, renaming himself Dalil Moschino, a name which he still carries today as an employee of the provincial government's ministry of labour. About 100 women rallied in the streets for her return.
   In 1979 she was interviewed while honeymooning in California with her new husband Allaoua Cheniguel, the man her brother had chosen for her. She told press that she had never actually been kidnapped, which of course, was untrue.

Dalil Maschino
in a recent photo

   In March 1981, they managed to get back together when she snuck away from Cheniguel in Geneva and returned to Montreal. The couple was reunited at Mirabel airport in a teary scene attended by about three dozen onlookers. They were still only 29.
   We assume they are still together, although his Denis, or Dalil as he is known now, has a Facebook page filled with pictures of himself doing social dancing and karate but none with any women and his list of friends gives nothing away.
  When Chadli replaced Boumediene as President of Algeria in 1978, times got rough for Messaoud Zeghar, who was imprisoned and had to pay a hefty sum from his $2 billion fortune to get free. He died in 1987.