Noureddine Aït-Hamouda sparked an uproar by qualifying Emir Abdelkader, hero of the first resistance against colonial France, as a “traitor”.
A former Algerian deputy, son of a famous fighter in the war of independence against France, was placed under a committal order, Sunday, June 27 in the evening, after accusing of treason figures of the anti-colonial history of Algeria, according to the National Committee for the Release of Prisoners (CNLD).
Noureddine Aït-Hamouda, the son of Colonel Amirouche, is accused of “attacking the symbols of the State and the revolution”, “attacking a former President of the Republic”, “attacking national unity”, ” incitement to hatred and racial discrimination”, indicated the CNLD.
Mr. Aït Hamouda, who appeared before the Sidi M’hamed court in Algiers, was arrested by the police on Saturday afternoon after leading a conference debate in a commune of the prefecture of Béjaïa, in Kabylia (north-east ).
A week before, the former deputy had triggered a real outcry by qualifying as “traitors”, during a television program, the Emir Abdelkader, hero of the first resistance against colonial France, the former president Houari Boumedienne and the nationalist leader Messali Hadj.
A temporarily suspended television channel
The ministry of the mujahideen (ex-combatants) had indicated that it would become a civil party in the lawsuits brought against “those who attacked the symbols of the nation”. Members of the Abdelkader family and the foundation that bears his name have filed a complaint.
Mr. Aït Hamouda, 71, is a former member of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), a secular opposition party, from the Berber Cultural Movement. He was excluded in 2015.
The controversy, having ignited social networks, led the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority (ARAV) to temporarily suspend the programs of the private channel El-Hayat TV which had broadcast the controversial remarks of Mr. Aït Hamouda. For its part, the ARAV affirmed: “to reserve the right to initiate all appropriate legal measures and procedures in the event of a recurrence of such overruns and professional breaches”.
Faced with the controversy, the presenter of the show and director of El-Hayat TV, Habet Hannachi, assured that the words of the former parliamentarian “do not represent the point of view of the channel. ” Also arrested on Saturday, according to local media, Mr. Hannachi was not presented to the court on Sunday, the CNLD said.
The backdrop of this affair is recurring tensions between Kabylia – a traditionally rebellious Berber-speaking region – and the central authorities. Five Kabylian activists were placed on Sunday under arrest warrant by a judge of the court of Draâ El Mizan, in the prefecture of Tizi-Ouzou, one of the large cities of Kabylia, the stronghold of the Hirak anti-regime movement, according to the CNLD.
