But instead of taking him in, the north African country simply sent him back.
“Algeria is seeking to humiliate France,” Retailleau, a conservative with hardline views on immigration, said on the sidelines of a visit to the western city of Nantes. “I believe we have reach a extremely worrying threshold with Algeria.”
Tensions have been rising between Paris and Algiers in recent weeks over the activity of Algerian influencers accused of attempting to incite violence in France or against members of the Algerian opposition — in some cases purportedly with the blessing of Algerian officials, according to reports in French media.
The two countries are also at loggerheads over the fate of Boualem Sansal, a 75-year-old writer and outspoken critic of the Algerian regime, who was detained after stepping off a plane in Algiers in November. He is currently in hospital.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Sansal’s release and said his treatment is “a story that disgraces [Algeria]”, sparking an immediate rebuke from across the Mediterranean.
Relations between France and its former colony have been fraught for decades. Past grievances over Algeria’s bloody war of independence have been kept alive, fueled by a growing discontent in France over immigration and, according to French officials, an Algerian regime who uses anger against France to shore up its support.
