An Algerian influencer expelled by France returned by Algeria: what you need to know

Nothing is going well between France and Algeria. The diplomatic crisis is getting worse day by day as the affairs progress. After the arrest of the writer Boualem Sansal, after the diplomatic tensions over the control of Western Sahara, a new episode has occurred in recent hours. An Algerian influencer arrested in Montpellier on Sunday January 5 was deported to Algeria this Thursday January 9 after a video calling for violence. But the Algerian authorities returned it to the sender.

The 59-year-old man, nicknamed Doualemm, took a return flight surrounded by the same police officers who accompanied him on the way out and whose mission was to carry out his expulsion. The influencer is banned from entering his country, Algeria justifies. As soon as he returned to French soil, the Algerian was taken to an administrative detention center at Mesnil-Amelot in Seine-et-Marne.

At the origin of the case, the town hall of Montpellier and the prefect of Hérault had reported one of his videos broadcast on TikTok. The man is accused by the authorities of calling for the murder of an Algerian opponent. According to the translations carried out by the Montpellier public prosecutor’s office, this man, also a maintenance worker in a sports hall, does not say “Kill him” but calls for a severe correction to be inflicted on him. The prefect of Hérault considers that this is in any case a “call for torture” which, according to him, justified the withdrawal of his residence permit and the expulsion of this man while he was He is scheduled to stand trial on February 24.

The Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau has communicated extensively on these files of Algerian influencers placed in police custody. This case shows the limits of the case and the differences between stated intentions and reality. The subject of OQTFs, unfulfilled obligations to leave the territory, often comes up in the news. This time, Algeria claims that its national is prohibited from staying on its soil. But this refusal by the Algerian authorities comes in a particular context of tension between the two countries. Last Monday, Emmanuel Macron once again called into question Algeria’s honor in front of French diplomats.

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