Two Algerian influencers were arrested on Friday January 3 in Brest and near Grenoble for advocating terrorism and death threats, following the broadcast of videos on TikTok.
Police officers intervened around 6 a.m. in a working-class neighborhood of Brest to arrest Youcef A., 25, accused of having called for attacks to be carried out, as well as another man, aged 41, also Algerian, suspected of being his accomplice and with whom he was staying.
These men “were both placed in police custody for acts of condoning an act of terrorism and provoking hatred and violence”Brest public prosecutor Camille Miansoni told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that investigations were continuing.
In the evening, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, who had already announced the first arrests, reported the arrest of another “Algerian influencer”known as “Imadtintin”. “He too will have to answer for the vile remarks made on TikTok before the courts. Don’t let anything pass”he writes on X.
This second influencer was “arrested in Echirolles around 7:30 p.m. and placed in police custody for death threats materialized in writing, images or other objects committed because of race, (of) ethnicity, (of) the nation or (of) religion »announced the Grenoble prosecutor, Eric Vaillant.
Originally, Tuesday, December 31, a video was published on the social network TikTok, where the influencer based in Brittany and followed by hundreds of thousands of subscribers, called in Arabic, with French subtitles, to commit attacks in France and violence in Algeria.
“When the police informed me that they had detected this video, I asked them to contact the prosecution immediately so that a judicial investigation would immediately give us the means to investigate”explained to AFP the prefect of Finistère, Alain Espinasse. This video was also sent to the platform for reporting illegal content Pharos. “The Algerian influencer “Zazouyoussef” who called on his community to commit attacks in France will have to answer for his actions in court”promises Bruno Retailleau on X.
According to TikTok, interviewed by AFP, the account in question “was banned after the publication of several videos identified as infringing (THE) community rules (from the network)notably (his) hate policies ». “Six copies of the videos concerned” were also detected and deleted, adds the platform.
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Youcef A., born in Mostaganem, in northwest Algeria, said he arrived in France in 2020 and received a residence permit in March 2023, valid until March 14, 2024, according to Mr. Espinasse. “He had a residence permit as the parent of a French child since he had a child with a person of French nationality”detailed the prefect.
During the urban riots which followed the death of Nahel, in June 2023, Youcef A. was arrested for having taken part in the damage to a sports complex in Brest and sentenced in December to twelve months’ imprisonment. “He immediately appealed”which explains why he was not imprisoned, said Mr. Espinasse. The hearing of his appeal trial is “waiting for fixation”according to the Rennes Court of Appeal.
“Given the facts of which he was guilty, when his residence permit expired in March 2024, I decided not to renew it and he was notified on April 18, 2024 of an obligation to leave the territory French (OQTF) »added the prefect, according to which Youcef A. was then “registered in the wanted persons file (FPR)”, but was neither on S file nor identified for radicalization.
According to the tweet of an Algerian activist reposted by Bruno Retailleau, the influencer Imadtintin had, for his part, published a video, removed after the arrest of “Zazouyoussef”calling for “burn alive, kill and rape on French soil”.
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