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Rabat – Algerian opposition figure Hichem Aboud, who now lives between France and Morocco, has warned that the repeated attempts on his life were meant to “silence him.”
On Sunday, AFP announced that an anti-terrorism investigating judge had charged four young men suspected of involvement in the attempted murder of the Algerian opposition figure in February 2025 in Roubaix.
Aboud, who is a former officer of the Algerian intelligence services, sees the alleged attempt as a way to “silence him,”
AFP quoted a judicial source who confirmed that three of the suspects are facing prosecution for attempted murder, while the fourth is charged with complicity in the attempted murder and criminal terrorist conspiracy. All of the suspects are in pre-trial detention.
Abud told AFP the attempted assassination in February last year was a “logical continuation after the failed Barcelona operation… They needed – and still need – to eliminate me to silence me.”
Now a journalist critical of the Algerian authorities, Aboud has lived in France since the 1990s.
He has lived in France since the 1990s. He returned to Algeria in 2011, where he created two newspapers that were suspended in 2013.
Read also: UN Experts Slam Algeria for Harassment, Forced Disappearance, and Arbitrary Arrests of Activists
The journalist returned to France after facing prosecution threats as the Algerian regime had been targeting journalists, authors, and activists for criticizing the regime.
“My client learned of this attempted murder through AFP, but it does not surprise him,” his lawyer, Dalil Essakal, said on Sunday.
Aboud filed another complaint for public provocation to commit a crime on Friday last week, accusing a man he accuses of serving the Algerian regime of calling for his killing on Facebook in May.
Aboud’s lawyer acknowledged that his client now moves between Morocco and France as he no longer feels safe in France.
Algeria is under scrutiny for arresting activists and journalists for opposing or speaking critically about the regime.
Earlier this month, UN experts expressed serious concern about human rights violations in Algeria, including incommunicado detention, harassment, and intimidation of relatives of victims of enforced disappearances.
A statement from the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) said that Algeria’s regime is also allegedly implicated in acts of intimidation targeting relatives engaged in the search for their relatives, who are subject to enforced disappearances.
Quoting several UN experts, the same source says that the families of forcibly disappeared persons have “a right to the truth.”
The experts also called on Algerian authorities to guarantee rights to liberty, fair trial, freedom of associations, and peaceful assembly, stating that they are in contact with the Algerian government regarding these concerns.
The statement came amid ongoing criticism following Algeria’s decision to arrest Algerian-French author Boualem Sansal, who the regime later released after pressure from the international community.
