Bruno Retailleau denounces the return to French soil of an Algerian influencer who had been expelled

“Algeria seeks to humiliate France”, said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday, January 10, the day after the return to French soil of an Algerian influencer who had been deported to Algeria after the publication of a video calling for violence. “I think that we have reached an extremely worrying threshold with Algeria”added the minister, who was speaking during a trip to Nantes.

This influencer – nicknamed “Doualemn” on TikTok – was arrested on Sunday in Montpellier then deported to Algeria on Thursday, before finally being sent back to France in the evening. Algiers has it “inadmissible”explained a police source to Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming information from the weekly Current valueswho got it from the Ministry of the Interior.

This 59-year-old man was arrested after a video posted on TikTok containing a call for violence. Placed on Tuesday in an administrative detention center in Nîmes, he was taken to Paris on Thursday afternoon, from where he left by plane to Algeria, according to his lawyer, Jean-Baptiste Mousset. On Tuesday, 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 under judicial supervision.

“I issued an expulsion order and the Algerian authorities did not want to let him land on Algerian soil, in total contradiction with the rules”lamented Mr. Retailleau. “I think France cannot tolerate this situation”he added, calling for “evaluate all the means at our disposal vis-à-vis Algeria” pour “defend our interests”.

Two other Algerians were recently arrested, one in Echirolles, near Grenoble, the other in Brest, for having posted content online calling for violent acts, often against opponents of the Algerian regime.

Hate messages

Thursday, a fifty-year-old Franco-Algerian tiktoker, Sofia Benlemmane, was placed in police custody in Lyon for “death threats and public incitement to hatred”reported to AFP the city’s public prosecutor, Thierry Dran. According to a police source, he is accused of having disseminated hate messages and threats against Internet users, and more generally against all people likely to oppose the Algerian regime, as well as insulting statements towards France. Friday, the Lyon prosecutor announced that the investigation and custody of M^me Benlemmane were going to continue at least until Saturday.

On Monday, the Rhône prefecture indicated that it had made reports targeting three influencers from Lyon, including Sofia Benlemmane, and two other TikTokers known under the pseudonyms “Abdesslam Bazooka” and “Laksas06”.

According to several Algerian opponents in France, interviewed by AFP, these particularly violent messages intensified after France, a former colonial power, changed its doctrine concerning Western Sahara. On this issue, Emmanuel Macron aligned himself with Spain and the United States at the end of July, believing that the future of this territory was “within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty”. Which led to warming with Rabat and a new crisis with Algiers.

Another subject of tension between the two countries, on which Bruno Retailleau spoke: the fate of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, 75, incarcerated since mid-November in Algeria for endangering state security , and who has been in a care unit since mid-December. “Can a large country take the honor of keeping someone who is sick and elderly in detention for bad reasons? »asked Mr. Retailleau.