Algerian Health Minister’s Wife Gives Birth in France
On February 4, 2025, RMC radio revealed that the Algerian Minister of Health at the time, Pr. Mokhtar Hasbellaoui, had arranged for his wife to give birth in France. According to journalist Jean-Loup Bonnamy, who brings back to the spotlight information already disclosed in 2018 by RCD president Mohcine Bellabes, the main motivation for this decision was to ensure their daughter’s nationality and right of residence in France.
While the birth took place in 2016, a year before his appointment as Minister of Health, leading some to argue that the matter is less controversial, it remains crucial to highlight that Professor Mokhtar Hasbellaoui is a distinguished medical professional. He has held several high-ranking positions, including Head of the Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) Department at the Tizi Ouzou University Hospital (CHU de Tizi Ouzou), President of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Medicine of Tizi Ouzou, President of the Scientific Council of the Tizi Ouzou University Hospital, and Head of the ORL Department at the Bab El Oued University Hospital (CHU Bab El Oued). In 2016, he was appointed Director General of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP). Given his extensive experience and deep knowledge of the Algerian healthcare system, as well as his ability to entrust his wife’s delivery to competent professionals, his decision was clearly not driven by concerns over inadequate medical care. His choice to rely on the French healthcare system for a routine childbirth was, evidently, a strategic move aimed at securing legal status and a civic foothold in France.
It’s also important to point out that this trend does not date from the Bouteflika era, as Abdelmadjid Tebboune has falsely repeated. On November 26, 2024, incident in France’s National Assembly, where National Rally MP Guillaume Bigot questioned Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government about Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Meziane, known for anti-France rhetoric, enrolling his two children in public universities in Paris.
There is indeed a widespread trend among the Algerian civilians, as well as military and government officials, to prefer securing their children’s future through foreign residence permits, citizenship and education opportunities, as they deeply know that civil rights, mobility rights, education and healthcare are in catastrophical conditions.
We reached out for comment to Kamel Sidi Saïd, Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic and Head of the Communications Directorate at the Presidency, as well as to Mohamed Meziane, the Algerian Minister of Communication; however, neither responded.
By Abderrahmane Fares
