Bruno Retailleau obviously rushed a little too much. The Minister of the Interior had just announced the arrest this Wednesday morning in France of an Algerian influencer, presented as Rafik M., who “called for violent acts to be committed on French territory on TikTok”. But the Paris prosecutor's office denounced on Wednesday a “premature escape”.
“This leak is entirely premature,” replied the public prosecutor to a question from AFP, regarding a person against whom “at this stage, nothing has been held.” The public prosecutor also specifies that the individual is “not in police custody”.
A hasty tweet
Bruno Retailleau ended his message on the social network This story comes at a time of diplomatic tensions between Paris and Algiers, while several Algerian influencers have been arrested in recent weeks in France.
The fact remains that tensions are high between France and Algeria, particularly around the Western Sahara issues and the fate of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, imprisoned in Algeria since mid-November. They became a little more heated with the recent arrest in Montpellier of a 59-year-old Algerian influencer, “Doualemn”, after a contentious video on TikTok.
-Tensions between Algeria and France
Put on a plane on January 9 for Algeria, this maintenance worker, father of two children, was sent back to France the same evening. On January 12, his detention was extended by 26 days by a judge. Bruno Retailleau had estimated that by sending Mr. Naman known as Doualemn back to Paris, Algeria had sought to “humiliate France”.
Algeria had rejected French accusations of “escalation” and “humiliation”, citing a “disinformation campaign” against Algiers. Since the beginning of January, several other Algerian influencers and a Franco-Algerian have been targeted by proceedings in France for hate speech.
France
