After Algeria returned one of its own nationals who had been deported from France, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau stated that “Algeria is seeking to humiliate France” and that France will have “no other option than to retaliate” if “the Algerians continue this escalatory posture,” reports Le Monde.
The minister’s comments come as Algeria refused to accept the TikTok influencer Boualem Naman, known as “Doualemn,” a 59-year-old arrested in Montpellier after he posted a video calling for violence against an Algerian anti-regime protester.
Algeria sent him back to Paris last Thursday, on the evening of the very day he had been sent, saying that his rights had been violated.
The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it wants “to allow him to respond to the accusations brought against him, to assert his rights and to defend himself within the framework of a fair and equitable judicial process on French territory.”
“The vengeful and hateful extreme right, as well as its patented heralds within the French government, are currently leading a campaign of disinformation, even mystification, against Algeria,” the ministry said.
On Friday, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau stated that “Algeria is seeking to humiliate France.”
“By keeping our cool (…) we must now evaluate all the means at our disposal, vis-à-vis Algeria,” he added. France will have “no other option than to retaliate” if “the Algerians continue this escalatory posture,” he declared.
For its part, Algeria stated that it “is in no way engaged in a logic of escalation or humiliation.”
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he is “astounded” that the Algerian authorities had “refused to take back one of their nationals.”
The Montpellier public prosecutor had set a trial date for Feb. 24 on charges of “incitement to commit a crime or an offense,” without placing him in pretrial detention or under judicial supervision.
Interior Minister Retailleau stated: “I issued an expulsion order and the Algerian authorities did not want to let him land on Algerian soil, in total contradiction with the rules. I think that France cannot tolerate this situation,” he said, calling for “evaluating all the means at our disposal vis-à-vis Algeria (to) defend our interests.”
Another Franco-Algerian “influencer,” Sofia Benlemmane, was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 9, as part of an investigation into hateful videos online. A hearing will be held in her case in Lyon on March 18.
For now, Doualemn remains in detention, although his lawyers say they are preparing to file an appeal to have him released.
Remix News has reported on the problem of Algerian crime in France repeatedly, with the most recent being an Algerian national being taken into custody for a series of violent robberies targeting the elderly. Last month, three Algerians under deportation orders gang raped a Polish mother in France, while another raped a disabled man in a mall bathroom. And in November, an Algerian was arrested for burning down an asylum center in Germany.
