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The Algerian government is facing scrutiny from France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor over allegations of «state terrorism,» alongside Russia and Iran. The prosecutor announced that eight procedures have been opened against these countries, including three targeting the Iranian regime.
In Algeria’s case, French judicial authorities have been investigating since April 2024 an attempted kidnapping of Algerian dissident Amir DZ, who is exiled in France. The probe led, in April 2025, to the arrest of an Algerian diplomat, currently in pre-trial detention, a move that has angered Algiers. In response, Algeria’s Foreign Ministry summoned the chargé d’affaires of the French embassy on March 24.
Another diplomat involved in the operation managed to leave France and return to Algeria. Meanwhile, General Rochdi Fethi Moussaoui, then military attaché at the Algerian embassy in Paris, was appointed in September 2024 as head of the Directorate General of Documentation and External Security (DGDSE).
Algeria and Iran placed in the same bracket
These developments come as Paris seeks to maintain what Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described as a «demanding dialogue» with Algiers. So far, however, this approach has yielded no results, notably failing to secure the release of journalist Christophe Gleizes, sentenced in December 2025 to seven years in prison for «glorifying terrorism.» Nor has it led to progress on the readmission of irregular migrants subject to OQTF orders.
Algiers has not officially reacted to the opening of these «state terrorism» procedures. Some local media blame «supporters of French Algeria» for the move, while others denounce it as a «maneuver» aimed at undermining the recent thaw in relations following the February visit to Algiers by French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who met with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The comparison between Algeria and Iran is particularly sensitive. It comes shortly after French security services foiled, on March 28, an attack targeting the Paris headquarters of Bank of America, amid heightened tensions linked to the Middle East.
The following day, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, after a four-week delay, described Iran’s repeated attacks on Gulf countries and Jordan as «unacceptable» and «unjustified.»
These accusations also emerge as bipartisan lawmakers in the United States push to designate the Polisario, backed by Algiers, as a terrorist organization. At the same time, figures such as former White House envoy Jason D. Greenblatt have pointed to alleged links between the Polisario and Iran.
