For videos “calling for hatred or violence” published on Tiktok, Sofia Benlemmane, Abdesslam Bazooka and Laksas06 are now in the sights of justice, the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region announced this Monday, January 6.
Hundreds of thousands of views. Three Franco-Algerian influencers from the Lyon region are in the sights of the authorities for having posted hateful videos that were widely relayed, the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region announced this Monday, January 6 on X. “Several influencers calling for hatred or violence in videos published on TikTok have been reported to the competent authorities by the Rhône prefecture in Lyon,” wrote Fabienne Buccio. According to its services, these are influencers supposed to reside in or around Lyon who published “more or less recently” videos on the Sofia Benlemmane, Abdesslam Bazooka and Laksas06 accounts.
The first, followed by hundreds of thousands of people, was criticized in particular for a live on TikTok produced in September in which she profusely insulted another woman in Arabic by throwing at her “fuck your mother, you and your France”. Abdesslam Bazooka, for his part, attacks opponents of the Algerian government described as “traitors” and threatens to “cut throat”. Laksas06 for his part took up on December 11 an audio from another Franco-Algerian in which he presents the members of the Algerian diaspora in France as “sleeping soldiers” ready to become “martyrs” to defend Algeria.
Three other influencers arrested in recent days
These reports follow three arrests of Algerian influencers in recent days. Friday January 3 in the morning, Youcef A., a 25-year-old man called “Zazouyoussef” on TikTok, was arrested in Brest for a video in which he called in Arabic for attacks in France and violence in Algeria. Placed in pre-trial detention, he will be tried on February 24 for advocating terrorism and faces seven years in prison. The announcement was made by the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, in person on X: “The Algerian influencer Zazouyoussef who called on his community to commit attacks in France will have to answer for his actions before the courts. He was arrested this morning in Brest. Widely followed on TikTok with hundreds of thousands of followers, he also called for violent attacks on opponents of the Algerian regime.
Friday evening, another Algerian under Obligation to Leave the Territory (OQTF), aged 31 and nicknamed “Imad Tintin”, was arrested in Echirolles in the suburbs of Grenoble. He will be tried this Monday in immediate appearance for “direct provocation to an act of terrorism” and will have to explain himself on a video, since removed, calling for “burn alive, kill and rape on French soil”. Finally on Sunday evening, an Algerian influencer nicknamed Doualemn was arrested in Montpellier because he published a video on TikTok in which he calls for “kill” et “to cause pain” a demonstrator opposed to the government of Algiers.
Without establishing a link with certainty, these videos take place in a context of very tense diplomatic relations between France and Algeria. Already very cold, they have become even colder in recent weeks, notably with the arrest of the writer Boualem Sansal, very critical of the Algerian power. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, said on Sunday January 5, “like the President of the Republic, very concerned by the fact that the request for release sent by Boualem Sansal and his lawyers was rejected”. He also expressed his “doubts” on Algiers' desire to respect the road map of Franco-Algerian bilateral relations. “We wish to maintain the best relations with Algeria […] but this is not the case today”regretted Jean-Noël Barrot. Algiers withdrew its ambassador from Paris at the end of July when Emmanuel Macron gave strong support to Moroccan proposals concerning Western Sahara. A red line for Algeria, historical sponsor of the Polisario Front, whose objective is the total independence of this territory.
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