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Marrakech – Algerian prosecutors have demanded a seven-year prison sentence for historian Mohamed Amine Belghit over controversial comments about Amazigh identity. The case has reignited tensions between Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, with Algeria’s state media launching harsh criticism against the Gulf country.
According to Algerian media, the prosecutor at the Dar El Beida tribunal near Algiers also requested a fine of 700,000 dinars (approximately €4,600) for Belghit. The verdict will be announced on July 3, as confirmed by defense attorney Toufik Hichour on Facebook.
Belghit was placed in detention on May 3 after an interview with UAE-based Sky News Arabia went viral on social media. During the interview, the university professor claimed “the Amazigh language is an ideological project of Franco-Zionist creation” and declared “there is no Amazigh culture.”
These statements provoked widespread indignation in Algeria, where the Tamazight language was recognized as official in 2016, and “Yennayer,” the Amazigh New Year, became a national holiday in 2017.
The historian faces serious charges including “crime against national unity,” “attacking symbols of the nation and republic,” and “spreading hate speech and discrimination.” His comments were deemed particularly inflammatory given Algeria’s constitutional recognition of Amazigh identity alongside Islam and Arabism.
Simmering tensions
The controversy quickly escalated into a diplomatic incident between Algeria and the UAE. Algeria’s state television broadcast a scathing critique of the Emirates on May 2, accusing them of spreading “a new form of venom, indecency and insults against Algerians” and having “crossed all red lines.”
The five-minute tirade used particularly harsh language, repeatedly referring to the UAE as an “artificial statelet” and its leaders as “dwarves.” The broadcast warned that “media incitement affecting Algerian identity will not pass without moral and popular accountability” and threatened to “return the insult a hundredfold.”
This is not the first diplomatic confrontation between the two countries. Tensions boiled over last year when Algeria accused Abu Dhabi of collaborating with Morocco and Israel to destabilize the Sahel region and undermine Algerian interests in Western Sahara.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune previously authorized Louisa Hanoune, leader of the Workers’ Party, to publicly accuse the UAE of attempting to infiltrate Algeria’s institutions and “pushing for war in the region” to benefit Israel.
Hanoune claimed the Emirates were “collecting money to arm Morocco” and using investments in Algeria as cover for alleged conspiracies. She suggested nationalizing Emirati-owned companies in Algeria, including the National Company of Tobacco and Matches, to reduce the UAE’s economic presence in the country.
Although Amazigh activists denounced the comments as hateful, some have criticized the Algerian government’s response as an attempt to deflect internal tensions by focusing on external enemies. One Kabyle activist noted on social media: “It’s not Sky News Arabia denying our history, it’s the Algerian state giving voice to those who falsify our origins.”
The case draws parallels to that of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who was sentenced to five years in prison in March for stating in a French media outlet that Algeria had inherited territories from Morocco during French colonization.
