Hichem Aboud Under the Vigilant Eye of the EU and French Authorities
In a remarkable show of international support, Hichem Aboud, a vocal critic of the Algerian regime, received backing this week from the French Minister of Interior, the European Union, and French Intelligence agencies, highlighting growing international attention on his case, three months after that of the Spanish parliament.
The three official letters from the Head of Cabinet of the French Minister of the Interior, Mr Bruno Retailleau, from Colin Steinbach, Head of Division for North Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS), and from the Spanish Government.
On February 17, 2025, a letter from the French Ministry of Interior, which Hichem Aboud broadcasted on his YouTube Channel on 24 February 2025, confirmed that Minister Bruno Retailleau had been informed about a hateful video circulating online, calling for the murder and mutilation of Aboud. The letter, signed by Mr. Louis-Marie LE ROY, Chief of Staff to Interior Minister Mr. Bruno Retailleau, explicitly states that the Minister has expressed his “total support” for Aboud and has forwarded the case to the Director General of the National Police “for appropriate consideration“. In addition, the correspondence has been forwarded to the French internal intelligence service (Director General of Internal Security) “so that it may be informed of your case“.
The European Union also responded to Aboud’s concerns on February 18, 2025, with a letter from Colin Steinbach, Head of Division for North Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS). The EU acknowledged receipt of Aboud’s communication and affirmed that his case was reviewed “with interest.” The letter emphasized that the European Union “closely monitors the human rights situation in Algeria,” underscoring the significance of human rights in EU-Algeria relations as enshrined in their Association Agreement, which has been in force since 2005 and is currently under review by Algeria amid increasing political tensions and criticism from European countries over human rights issues.
This wave of international support comes after the Spanish Parliament confirmed on January 23, 2025, that an investigation into Aboud’s kidnapping in Barcelona is ongoing, led by Spanish judicial authorities at Juge d’Instruction numéro 1 de Lebrija (Sevilla) and Juge d’Instruction numéro 7 de Barcelone, with the involvement of the Spanish Guardia Civil and intelligence services. According to Spanish parliamentary documents, six parliamentary members from the conservative VOX party, led by Madrid representative Mr. Francisco Javier Ortega Smith-Molina, asked written questions about the incident, which involved an attempted exfiltration to international waters aboard a yacht, with the ultimate aim of handing Aboud over to Algerian intelligence. In a dramatic turn of events, Aboud, kidnapped on October 17, 2024 at around 11:00 pm in Barcelona, was rescued by the Spanish Guardia Civil in Lebrija (Sevilla) just 23 hours after his abduction, following a coincidental operation initially related to a potential drug trafficking discovery.
It was only after Aboud’s discovery, tied-up and half-naked as he was being boarded on a boat in Lebrija, that Spanish authorities connected his case to the missing person alert issued in Barcelona. Two kidnapping authors were arrested as the investigations move forward. This logistical coordination prompted Nadia Pajaron, spokeswoman for the Spanish Police Union, to publicly acknowledge the efficacy of the national, regional and European alert and coordination system.
Disinformation strategies and destabilization attempts
It should be noted that, with the exception of Anouar Malek and Ferhat Mehenni, who quickly raised the alarm following Hichem Aboud’s disappearance after being informed by the latter’s lawyer, Dalil Essakali, several propaganda outlets of the Algerian military regime initially denied the kidnapping, calling it an “Indian film”. These included AlgeriePatriotique (a site classified as conspiratorial by the conspiracy watchdog ConspiracyWatch), media owned by Lotfi Nezzar (son of Khaled Nezzar, himself accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Court), as well as Youtubers Mohamed Larbi Zitout, Saïd Bensdira and CoachLarage.
However, a few hours after Hichem Aboud’s release at around 10pm on October 18, 2024, and following the publication of articles in the official Spanish press confirming the kidnapping, these same relays quickly changed their tune, claiming that the kidnapping was a Moroccan staged event. They then exploited out-of-context statements made by Nadia Pajaron, spokeswoman for the Spanish Police Union, on Rue20, falsely claiming that Hichem Aboud was a Moroccan citizen. Ms. Pajaron subsequently publicly denied this information.
At the same time, Abdou Semmar reported the kidnapping of Hichem Aboud very early on, without having been in contact either with the latter’s relatives or with Me. Dalil Essakali, raising two hypotheses: either he obtained the information directly from the kidnappers, or from those who orchestrated the kidnapping. As the investigation progresses, he is expected to provide answers to the judicial authorities.
Finally, in the days and weeks following his release, Hichem Aboud was the target of multiple attempts to hack into his bank and email accounts, as well as fraudulent manipulations of his photos and videos with the aim of falsifying documents and disseminating content aimed at discrediting him.
This campaign of disinformation, diversion and destabilization shows just how crucial it is for the Algerian intelligence services to conceal their involvement in this failed kidnap attempt.
The coordinated reactions of France, the European Union and Spain testify to the growing attention being paid by the international community to the case of Hichem Aboud’s kidnapping, which, once the findings are made public, could become one of the most embarrassing scandals for the Algerian regime since independence.
Abderrahmane Fares ✍️
