Against the backdrop of worsening ties between Paris and Algiers, French judicial authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for a former Algerian embassy official accused of orchestrating a covert kidnapping operation on French soil.
The suspect, identified as a former intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover, is wanted for “arrest, abduction and unlawful detention in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and “criminal terrorist conspiracy,” according to official sources cited by AFP.
The warrant, issued in late July, targets a man described in an April report by France’s domestic intelligence agency (DGSI) as a “non-commissioned officer” of Algeria’s powerful foreign intelligence service (DGDSE), who was stationed at the Algerian embassy in Paris under the guise of a first secretary.
At least seven other individuals have been indicted in connection with the operation, including an employee of the Algerian consulate in Créteil, a suburb of Paris. The motives behind the operation remain murky, but the details suggest a disturbing abuse of diplomatic privilege and a flagrant violation of French sovereignty.
The target of the operation was Amir Boukhors, better known as “Amir DZ,” a prominent Algerian dissident and social media influencer with over a million followers on TikTok and Facebook.
On the night of April 29, 2024, Boukhors was intercepted near his home in Val-de-Marne by four men posing as police officers. He was handcuffed, told he was being taken to a police station, and driven away.
Instead, he was taken to a remote location resembling a scrapyard, placed inside a modified shipping container, and drugged with a white liquid later identified as a sedative. Upon waking, he found himself guarded by two masked women who claimed they had been paid €1,000 each to watch him and pleaded with him not to report the incident.
He described the ordeal as “27 hours of detention without violence,” but remains convinced the orders came directly from Algiers. “I know my enemy very well,” he told AFP. “I received many threats before this operation.”
Boukhors, 41, is an investigative journalist and anti-system activist who fled Algeria in 2012 and was granted political asylum in France in October 2023. He is wanted in Algeria under nine arrest warrants, including cham charges of affiliation with the banned Islamist movement Rachad, which the Algerian regime labels a terrorist organization.
Between 2015 and 2019, Algerian courts convicted him in absentia for defamation, blackmail, and threats. In 2022, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Relizane for “undermining state security.” Boukhors claims he was also sentenced to death, though Algerian security sources deny this.
His online content, often targeting President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his inner circle, regularly garners millions of views and has become a thorn in the side of Algeria’s ruling elite. French diplomatic sources say Boukhors is part of a broader dossier referred to in Algiers as “the subversives,” which could complicate future security cooperation between the two countries.
The case has sparked outrage in France and raised serious questions about the Algerian regime’s willingness to flout international norms to silence dissent abroad. The use of diplomatic cover for intelligence operations and the targeting of a recognized political refugee on French soil could have lasting repercussions for Franco-Algerian relations.
As France pursues justice, the incident underscores the authoritarian nature of Algeria’s regime and its increasingly aggressive tactics against critics, even beyond its borders.
