Algeria Saturday lodged a protest with France after an Algerian consular official was placed under pre-trial detention on suspicion of involvement in the April 2024 abduction of a TikTok influencer.
Three men, including the Algerian consular official, were investigated Friday over abduction, arbitrary detention, and illegal confinement, in connection with a terrorist enterprise, as well as other crimes, according to French prosecutors.
Amir Boukhors, known online as “Amir DZ,” is a popular TikTok influencer with over a million followers, and a vocal critic of the Algerian government.
The influencer had been in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. According to his lawyer, he was abducted in April 2024 and released the next day.
Algeria labeled him a “saboteur linked to terrorist groups.”
Algeria denounces move against consular official
Algeria denounced the move as politically motivated and called for the immediate release of its consular officer.
The Foreign Ministry said the arrest was made “without notification through the diplomatic channels” and based “on the sole fact that the accused consular officer’s mobile phone was allegedly located around the home” of Boukhors.
It said it lodged a “strong protest” with French Ambassador Stephane Romatet, adding that “the new, unacceptable, and unjustified development will severely damage Algerian-French relations and affirms its determination not to leave this case without consequences.”
French-Algeria ties under pressure
This latest setback in the already strained ties between France and its former colony comes just as relations had begun to improve following a March 31 phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Last July, Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for the autonomy of the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.
Ties took another hit when Macron called for freeing French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal who was sentenced to five years in jail for allegedly undermining Algeria’s territorial unity.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
