Media and civil society representatives are in a mass exodus due to the escalating repression by the Algerian regime after 4 years of popular pro-democracy “Hirak” movement, wrote French daily “Le Monde”.
The paper quoted Algerian opponent Amira Bouraoui as saying that she never wanted to leave Algeria, but the pressure became unbearable, adding that prison or exile is Algeria’s means to silence its opponents.
The newspaper said that, on Feb. 6, Bouraoui boarded a plane from Tunis to Lyon thanks to diplomatic intervention from Paris. France has persuaded the Tunisian presidency to refuse Bouraoui’s extradition to Algeria, a fact that caused tension between Paris and Algiers.
After entering Tunisia illegally on February 3, Amira Bouraoui was detained in Algeria and given a two-year prison sentence for attacking the President of the Republic and offending Islam, said “Le Monde”
Thousands of Algerians are exiling themselves in France, Europe, and Canada due to a smothering atmosphere in the homeland.
Others were not as fortunate as Bouraoui. For instance, Slimane Bouhafs, a supporter of the Kabylie Self-Determination Movement (MAK), who also converted to Christianity, was abducted in August 2021 and forcibly returned to Algeria.
An exodus of this kind might benefit Algerian authorities, however, Algiers is attempting to halt it out of concern that once these opponents are abroad, they will spread information about the crackdown. Hence, several courts pronounced hundreds of bans on travel against Hirak supporters.
The shutdown of “Radio M” and “Maghreb Emergent” late December 2022, and the arrest of its founder Ihsane El-Kadi, is tangible evidence of repression, in addition to the disappearance of daily news outlet “Liberté” with its caricatures by cartoonist Ali Dilem.
Mouloud Boumghar, professor of public law at the University of Picardy Jules Verne, stated that the Algerian regime is becoming more authoritarian than before.
According to Boumghar, there are various reasons why Algeria became a dictatorship, such as the lack of pluralism, the political instrumentalization of terror charges, and a political environment characterized by military and conservative nationalism.
The Hirak had an extremely strong impact on Algeria as it broke the authoritarian social repression, but the regime failed to rebuild its social base.