Algeria uses diaspora to stage subversive acts in France- intelligence report

Algeria under the new duo Tebboune-Chengriha hatched a plot to use its diaspora to blackmail and pressure France, according to an intelligence report cited by French media.

The near 2.6 Algerians in France have been targeted with an Algerian propaganda plot which helped recruit influencers and members of the diaspora posing a serious destabilization risk for Paris, Le Journal Du Dimanche reported citing a report by French domestic intelligence agency (DNRT).

Since he came to power, Tebboune- a puppet president whose strings are pulled by the army- has evoked the colonial past going as far as saying that Algerians had to access France without a visa for 130 years in reparation for the same French occupation duration.

The Algerian regime then launched a civil society group (ONSC) that recruited leading members of the Algerian diaspora in France. One of ONSC member, Nasser Khattab, was the founder of a group of pro-Algerian regime dual nationals (Moudaf), whose job was to defend and lobby for the interests of the Algerian regime.

The Moudaf and its members have been staunch advocates of the Algerian authoritarian regime in France, either by evoking colonial grievances or criticizing improving Moroccan-French ties.

The Algerian regime went further in instrumentalizing the Paris Mosque. Chems-eddine Mohamed Hafiz, the mosque’s current rector, despite being a French national, has openly lobbied for the Algerian regime, which he often defends in the media.

What was supposed to serve as a place of worship for all Muslims in a secular country is now a platform for Algeria’s anti-French rhetoric.

This anti-French indoctrination within the French territory gave rise to a spate of hateful speech against whatever the Algerian regime labels as enemies, notably Morocco, Israel and France.

The recent wave of arrests in France of Algerian influencers committing hate speech and calling for violence on social media has revealed the scale of recruitment by the Algerian regime. At least 7 influencers are facing trial for inciting to violence against Algerian opposition figures abroad.

Paris has just realized the dangers of a subversive plot unfolding on its territory and distantly controlled by Algiers.