Algeria: a former deputy imprisoned after controversial comments about anti-colonial figures

Published on : 06/28/2021 – 11:44

The son of a famous fighter in the war of independence against France was placed under arrest warrant, Sunday June 27, after accusing of treason figures of the anticolonial history of Algeria, according to the National Committee for the release of detainees (CNLD).

Noureddine Aït Hamouda, a former deputy and the son of Colonel Amirouche, is accused of “attacking the symbols of the State and the revolution”, “attacking a former President of the Republic”, “attacking national unity “,” incitement to hatred and racial discrimination, “said the CNLD.

He appeared before the Sidi M’hamed court in Algiers, after being arrested by police on Saturday afternoon. Noureddine Aït-Hamouda had just hosted a conference-debate in a commune of the prefecture of Béjaïa, in Kabylie (north-east).

“Attack on the symbols of the nation”

A week before, the former deputy had triggered a real outcry by qualifying as “traitors”, during a television program, the Emir Abdelkader, hero of the first resistance against colonial France, the former president Houari Boumediène and the nationalist leader Messali Hadj.

The Ministry of Mojahedin (Veterans) had let it be known that it would become a civil party in the lawsuits brought against “those who attacked the symbols of the nation”.

Members of the Abdelkader family, as well as the foundation that bears his name, have filed a complaint.

Noureddine Aït Hamouda, 71, is a former member of the Rassemblement pour la culture et la democratie (RCD), a secular opposition party from the Berber Cultural Movement. He was excluded in 2015.

The controversy, having ignited social networks, led the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority (Arav) to temporarily suspend the programs of the private channel El Hayat TV, which had broadcast its controversial remarks.

For its part, the Arav affirmed “to reserve the right to initiate all the measures and adequate legal procedures in the event of recurrence of such exceedances and professional failures”.

Tensions between Kabylia and the central authorities

Faced with the controversy, the presenter of the show and director of El Hayat TV, Habet Hannachi, assured that the words of the former parliamentarian “do not represent the point of view of the channel”.

Also arrested on Saturday, according to local media, Habet Hannachi was not presented in court on Sunday, the CNLD said.

The backdrop of this affair is recurring tensions between Kabylia, a traditionally rebellious Berber-speaking region, and the central authorities.

Five Kabylian activists were placed on Sunday under arrest warrant by a judge of the court of Draâ El Mizan, in the prefecture of Tizi-Ouzou, one of the large cities of Kabylia, stronghold of the Hirak anti-regime movement, according to the CNLD.

With AFP