{"id":330791,"date":"2025-08-09T14:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/330791\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T14:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:51:11","slug":"france-accuses-algerian-official-of-orchestrating-high-profile-kidnapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/330791\/","title":{"rendered":"France accuses Algerian official of orchestrating high-profile kidnapping"},"content":{"rendered":"

France has issued an international arrest warrant for Salaheddine Selloum, a former diplomat at the Algerian embassy in Paris, accusing him of involvement in the 2024 kidnapping of Algerian opposition YouTuber Amir Boukhors, known as Amir DZ. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Selloum served as first secretary at the embassy from 2021 to 2024 and is alleged to have participated in a \u201cterrorist criminal association\u201d linked to the preparation of serious crimes, according to French judicial sources, quoted by the French pres<\/a><\/strong>s.<\/p>\n

Amir DZ was abducted near his home in Val-de-Marne on April 29, 2024, by men posing as police officers. He was forcibly taken to an isolated site, drugged, and held captive for 27 hours before being released near a forest. Investigations revealed that Selloum\u2019s official diplomatic role was a cover for activities as an operative of Algeria\u2019s external security services.<\/p>\n

Phone data placed him near the YouTuber\u2019s known locations in the weeks leading up to the kidnapping, indicating reconnaissance missions.<\/p>\n

The investigation, accelerated in February 2025 by France\u2019s anti-terrorism prosecution office and security services, uncovered close contacts between Selloum and a group involved in the operation, including an Algerian consulate agent in Cr\u00e9teil arrested earlier in April. This arrest reignited tensions between France and Algeria, occurring shortly after a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot to Algiers had eased relations.<\/p>\n

Algeria retaliated by expelling 12 French diplomats, prompting reciprocal expulsions by France and the recall of its ambassador, who has yet to return.<\/p>\n

The kidnapping case has further destabilised Franco-Algerian ties, already strained since France\u2019s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and the arrest of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers.<\/p>\n

Selloum left France the day Amir DZ was released, and the issuance of the international warrant is expected to exacerbate the already fraught diplomatic climate between the two countries.<\/p>\n

By Tamilla Hasanova<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France has issued an international arrest warrant for Salaheddine Selloum, a former diplomat at the Algerian embassy in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[23355,7503,7502,2000,299,36,23356,23359,466,23358,23357,23354],"class_list":{"0":"post-330791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","15":"tag-international-experts","16":"tag-interviews","17":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","18":"tag-news-from-baku","19":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114999373567138413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}