Yesterday, two lawyers for Algerian influencer Doualemn challenged the expulsion order against their client before the Paris administrative court, reports Liberation.fr.
Doualemn Naman, known as “Doualemn,” a 59-year-old maintenance worker and father of two, was arrested in Montpellier on Jan. 5 after posting a video calling for violence against an Algerian anti-regime protester. He was expelled on Jan. 9 to Algeria, only to be sent straight back to France that same evening. He was then placed in an administrative detention center (CRA) and is set to stand trial on Feb. 24 for “public provocation to commit a crime.”
Doualemn’s lawyers had filed an interim suspension, an emergency procedure to challenge the legality of the expulsion order signed by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Jan. 7.
Marie David-Bellouard says this procedure is permitted under “an absolute state of emergency,” but considers it “illegal” in this specific case. She assures that her client had “no connection with terrorist acts,” which could have justified such an order, saying that the facts pertaining to his case are “not so serious.”
Minister Retailleau had blasted Algeria for trying to “humiliate France” by sending Doualemn back to Paris. Algeria, meanwhile, accused the French government of “leading a campaign of disinformation, even mystification, against Algeria.”
Doualemn’s team presented a man “caught in a diplomatic vice and a media tornado.” With his back to a packed courtroom, his eyes fixed on the ground, the influencer tried to defend himself by indicating that he had “deleted the video.”
“My life is here. I am the father of two children and I have a sick son,” Doualemn said.
The decision of the Paris administrative court is expected tomorrow.
Charles-Edouard Minet, representative of the Ministry of the Interior, has said that the case “calls for a rapid and firm response in an extremely worrying context,” adding that the multiple Algerian influencers now facing charges are “clearly coordinated.”
Attorney David-Bellouard has fired back, saying that Minister Retailleau “is trying to create a false community of interest” and “inflate” the facts.
In total, seven Algerian influencers have been arrested for hate speech and incitement to violence due to their posts on TikTok.
Relations between France and Algeria have deteriorated since last summer when Paris announced its support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The European Parliament has also just passed a resolution demanding that Algeria release imprisoned critics of the current government, including the writer Boualem Sansal. The Pan-African Parliament has, in turn, condemned Brussels’ interference in the internal affairs of African states, expressing “full solidarity with the Algerian government and people,” and requesting that the European Parliament “respect the functioning of their institutions, particularly judicial institutions.”
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is now saying that France may cut the number of short-term Schengen visas issued to Algerian nationals until the government of Algeria stops preventing deportations.
