Tahar Djaout (11 January 1954 – 2 June 1993) was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer.

After university he worked as a journalist for Algérie Actualité, and by the late 1980s, he became one of Algeria's foremost literary talents.

[1] He was assassinated by the Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism.

One of his attackers professed that he was murdered because he "wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors.

"[2] After his death the BBC made a documentary about him entitled 'Shooting the Writer', introduced by Salman Rushdie.