Naima Laghlimi Salhi, the Algerian parliamentarian and head of Al-Bayan party, said that she was threatened by extremist Berbers after she had criticized them, defending the Arab dimension of the Algerian personality and opposing teaching the Amazigh language in the country.
Mohamed Salhi, Naima’s husband, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he filed a complaint to the police of Bab Ezzouar, in the eastern suburb of the capital. Investigations regarding the threats are being launched by the cyber-crimes department.
Salhi noted that he received a phone call threatening to kill their son in revenge for their standpoints from extremist Berbers.
This threat was recorded and submitted to the police.
He added that the extremists are inciting the public against his wife because of her rejection to impose a tribal imprint on the Arabian Algerian identity. Salhi affirmed that threats have increased lately.
Naima posted on Facebook Friday that her supporters assigned lawyers to file lawsuits against extremist individuals who are defaming her. She said in a controversial video posted on social media in February that she would kill her young daughter if she spoke Berber.
The government started implementing new constitutional arrangements regarding Berbers end of 2017, including the establishment of an academy to teach their language and declaring the Berbers new year an official national holiday, leading to a dispute among Algerians.
