Six Algerian or Franco-Algerian influencers were arrested by French authorities on charges of promoting and calling for hatred and or even calling for violent acts in France. These arrests comeaccording to an activist, in a broader context, that of an online hate strategy carried out by the Algerian regime.
Between Algeria and France, nothing is going well anymore. For several months already, Algiers has shown its fangs to show its dissatisfaction and try to put pressure, particularly on the question of relations between France and Morocco and Paris’ support for Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
The last act of this defiance from Algiers, which had already refused the reconciliation proposed by President Emmanuel Macron and the many hands extended by France, dates back to the moment when Paris expressed its support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. Algeria signaled its disapproval by withdrawing its ambassador instead of issuing a simple recall.
In another sign of enmity, Algeria incarcerated French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal for making historical statements about colonization in Algeria and a comparison with Morocco.
In return, France appears to have responded to calls from exiled Algerian whistleblower and journalist, Chawki Benzahra, who claimed that serious threats were targeting France and that this was a well-defined strategy of the Algerian regime.
Algerian influencers Youcef Zazou, Imad Tintin and Doualemn were all arrested by French justice. Imad Tintin was arrested Friday evening in Echirolles, near Grenoble, after publishing a video, since removed, calling for “burning alive, killing and raping on French soil” while Doualemn was apprehended in Montpellier on Sunday, for posting videos on Tiktok calling for violent acts.
“Kill him, let him suffer” we can notably hear him say in one of his videos, targeting an Algerian anti-regime demonstrator.
Likewise, other Algerian influencers followed, and these are Sofia Benlemmane known for her numerous escapades, her calls to hatred and her participation in pro-Algerian regime demonstrations, as well as Abdesslam “Bazooka” and Laksas06.
Sofia Benkemmane was reportedly arrested following a live on TikTok made in September in which she insulted another woman by saying “n…. your mother you and your France”. Abdesslam Bazooka, for his part, attacks opponents of the Algerian government described as “traitors” in an Arabic video published on TikTok on December 10 and threatens to “cut their throats”.
And finally, the nickname Laksas06, 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 the ‘Algeria.
According to Chawki Benzehra, an Algerian political activist and whistleblower who led the arrest of the three influencers, Doualemn specifically targeted “those who wanted to demonstrate on January 1st against the Algerian regime, and a young activist whose death he wants because a person named Cohen shared his video” according to a post on the social network on X.
In statements to the press, the activist recalls that it is an electronic war led by Algeria targeting several countries, including France but especially Morocco.
“The French political class must realize that there is a danger. That the Algerian regime is waging a hybrid war against France, to destabilize France.” A campaign which takes place in a particular context between the two countries, especially since “the recognition of the Moroccan nature of the Sahara”, estimates Chawki Benzehra at the microphone of Europe 1.
“There has been a wave in recent months, even a little in the last two years, of sorts of influencers who call themselves nationalists, with behind this idea of Algeria which is targeted by a conspiracy that is sometimes Moroccan, sometimes Zionist, or even French. There would be Israel behind. So we can clearly see that there is a whole organization behind it,” he added.
In a statement to Hespress, he reinforced this theory by asserting that “the French position in favor of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco caused an earthquake within the Algerian regime, which made its media and electronic spokespersons resound, particularly among the Algerian leaders”.
He noted the mobilization of the Algerian community in France to fuel the discourse of violence and hatred, threaten those who oppose the policies of this regime, and promote the existence of a Franco-Moroccan-Israeli conspiracy. targeting Algeria.
Benzahra also pointed the finger at Mehdi Ghezzar, who would be the mastermind behind this cacophony of influencers. As a reminder, Mehdi Ghezzar, an Algerian entrepreneur residing in France, hit the headlines by insulting Morocco, which led to his ouster from RMC last August. And he is also the one who was recruited by the Algerian presidency to orchestrate the electoral campaign for the second term of Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
