The judge of freedoms and detention of the judicial court of Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) examines this Sunday the appeal of the Algerian influencer Boualem N. against his placement in administrative detention. Known under the name of Ami Boualem, as well as that of “Doualemn”, the 59-year-old Algerian, who has 168,000 subscribers on TikTok, was arrested on January 5 in Montpellier (Hérault), and placed in a detention center administrative (CRA) in Nîmes (Fard).
In a video addressing people who had wanted to demonstrate against the Algerian regime on January 1, he called for “giving a severe correction to a man appearing to reside in Algeria”.
On January 7, the public prosecutor of Montpellier, Fabrice Belargent, announced that this man would be tried on February 24 for “provocation to commit a crime or misdemeanor”, without placing him in pre-trial detention or judicial supervision.
VideoExpulsion of the Algerian influencer: “Algeria seeks to humiliate France”, estimates Retailleau
For the prefect of Hérault, François-Xavier Lauch, this “call to torture” targeting “an opponent of the current regime in Algeria”, justified the withdrawal of his residence permit and his expulsion, and he can be judged “ without appearing personally.” The Ministry of the Interior added that it could not be excluded “that the reprisals to which it calls were also directed against Algerians residing on the national territory. (French) suspected of protesting the Algerian regime in place.”
On January 9, with an expulsion order in hand, Boualem N. was escorted to Paris and put on a plane bound for his country of origin. But Algeria refused it, and even “denied entry”, according to the Ministry of the Interior on Thursday evening. Barely returned to France, he was placed at the CRA of Mesnil-Amelot (Seine-et-Marne).
The day before this round trip, the activist’s lawyer announced that he would lodge an appeal before the Paris administrative court against his placement in detention for the threat of expulsion for his comments.
The day after his return, Me Jean-Baptiste Mousset and his colleague, Me Émilie Brun, defended that their client, “in good standing for around fifteen years on French territory”, where he “had not committed the slightest offense for these fifteen years”, regretted “the consequences of (on) publication” and “for going a little too far”. They noted that “any call for murder, any intention to kill or even any anti-Semitic behavior was ruled out by the judicial investigation”, and that he had the right to attend his trial.
