An unemployed graduate, protagonist of a French documentary on Algeria at the origin of a diplomatic crisis with Paris, was heard Saturday by the police in Oran (northwest), before being released, says his lawyer this Sunday.
“Mehdi was detained for almost fourteen hours. What is the purpose of this invitation? He was not charged with anything, no charges. We asked him lots of questions and asked lots of information, ”said Farid Khemisti.
Another young man, a tourist guide from the cultural association Bel Horizon who had helped the director, was interrogated for nearly two hours on Sunday and then released without charge, the lawyer added. The head of the Bel Horizon association will be heard on Monday, according to the same source, who specifies that other people linked to the shooting of the film were later summoned to Oran.
Your very free and without taboo
Mehdi is one of the five young Algerians who were interviewed by Mustapha Kessous, a French journalist of Algerian origin, to "tell their stories and tell their country" in a documentary on youth and the popular anti-regime movement (Hirak) broadcast on Tuesday on French television.
In the documentary entitled “Algeria my love”, these young people, from Algiers, Oran and Tizi Ouzou, testify in a very free and without taboo tone of the frustrations of a certain Algerian youth, against a background of political protest.
"I really feel suffocated in the country I live in. Yet it's a country I love." 🇩🇿
If the Algerian youth rebelled, it was out of love.
"Algeria, my love" at 20.55 and available on @francetv ►https: //t.co/YicqmQyq5P@lemondeenface#LMEF pic.twitter.com/iMFXx54Jxx
An unprecedented peaceful and protean movement in Algeria, the Hirak shook power for more than a year until its suspension in mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This documentary, which sparked lively debate on social media, prompted an "immediate" recall for consultations from the Algerian ambassador to Paris, Salah Lebdioui. The Algerian Foreign Ministry denounced "an attack on the Algerian people and their institutions", including the army. It is only the second time, in the history of turbulent Franco-Algerian relations, that an Algerian ambassador to France has been publicly recalled to Algiers since independence in 1962.