Algeria arrests family members of activist Amira Bouraoui after her escape to France

Algerian authorities have arrested several members of Franco-Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui's family after she escaped to France.

On Saturday evening, Bouraoui's mother and sister were arrested in Algiers, and their home was searched, reported the local Radio M website.

Bouraoui's sister was released early on Sunday but her seventy-three-year-old mother was "transferred" to Annaba (east), where she "risks being brought before the prosecutor Monday," according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).

On 3 February, Amira Bouraoui, a Franco-Algerian journalist, was arrested in Tunisia and faced extradition. She was allowed to board her flight to Lyon after an intervention by the French embassy in Tunis.

The dual national journalist was prohibited from leaving Algerian soil and illegally crossed into neighbouring Tunisia using her French passport.

Bouraoui was sentenced in May 2021 to two years in prison for "offending Islam" and "attacking the person of the President of the Republic" without a warrant of committal at the hearing. She was not jailed but was denied the right to leave the country.

Following Bouraoui's escape, the Algerian foreign ministry accused Paris of "violation of national sovereignty by French diplomatic, consular and security personnel who participated in the illegal and secret evacuation of an Algerian national."

The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), which was dissolved in January, condemned the Algerian regime's "shameful revenge" on Bouraoui's family.

"Here is what Amira Bouraoui's sister published yesterday, today it is announced that she was arrested this evening with her 73-year-old mother, apparently in retaliation against Amira, who fled the country. Shameful, Power takes revenge against her family. It is a dictatorship," wrote Said Salhi, vice president of LADDH, from exile in Brussels.

Algérie.
Voici ce qu'a publié hier la sœur de Amira Bouraoui, aujourd'hui on annonce son arrestation ce soir avec sa maman âgée de 73 ans, apparemment en signe de représailles contre Amira qui a fuit le pays. Honteux, Le pouvoir se venge contre sa famille.
C'est la dictature. pic.twitter.com/H8m38Aw0nv

— said SALHI (@saidsalhi527) February 11, 2023

Amira's sister, Wafa Bouraoui, was arrested a few hours after messaging her more than 19,000 followers on Facebook that the family house was under siege from Algerian authorities.

"Now I understand why my sister preferred to leave," added Wafa in a Facebook post.

After her release, Wafa started sharing several posts with the caption, "Where is my mother?" urging authorities to reveal the location of her mother and release her immediately.

According to CNLD, a cousin of Amira was also arrested and placed in police custody in Annaba.

It is unclear if anyone else in Bouraoui's family also holds French nationality.

In a recent interview upon her arrival to France, Bouraoui stressed that her departure for France was to see her son who lives there, and not "an exile."

"I will be back very quickly in Algeria," she said.

Bouraoui's escape complicated already fragile ties between Paris and Algiers after months of Macron's half-hearted efforts to tackle historical and diplomatic wounds his country caused to its former colony.