the Algerian National Assembly condemns Emmanuel Macron’s “irresponsible comments” – RT in French

The Office of the National People’s Assembly, the lower house of the Algerian parliament, condemned Emmanuel Macron’s statements against Algeria, seeing in particular “blatant interference”.

“The Algeria that we love so much and with which we share so many children and so many stories is entering into a story that dishonors it, of preventing a seriously ill man from getting treatment,” declared Emmanuel Macron on January 6, during of the Conference of Ambassadors.

Referring to Boualem Sansal, the tenant of the Élysée “urgently” asked the Algerian authorities to release the Franco-Algerian writer. A call which sparked a strong reaction on the other side of the Mediterranean. The same day, the Office of the National People’s Assembly (APN) expressed in a press release its “strong condemnation” of the “irresponsible comments” of the French president.

Statements which, castigated the office of the APN, “constitute a flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Algeria”, “undermining its sovereignty and its dignity”, and this, in the context of a case in course, processed “in accordance with Algerian laws”.

“This is clearly an attempt to distort the image of Algeria and its sovereign institutions,” it is further stated in the press release. Affirming that Algeria had endured the “worst violations” during French colonization, the APN office “categorically” rejected any “lessons in the field of human rights and freedoms.”

Boualem Sansal, a Franco-Algerian writer, was arrested on November 16 and placed under arrest ten days later, after his hearing by the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Algiers.

Algeria and France have been at diplomatic odds for several months, particularly after the support given by Emmanuel Macron to the “Moroccan autonomy plan” for Western Sahara, in the wake of which Algiers withdrew its ambassador to Paris.