yet another blow for the Algerian opposition. Dissident and former political refugee Habib Achi, a former magistrate who fled Algeria during Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s 4th term to seek political asylum in France, was discreetly and officially rehabilitated by the Algerian authorities.
The former opponent returned to Algeria where he was fully taken care of by the Algerian secret services, we were able to confirm from several consistent sources. After leaving the Paris suburbs to put an end to his long political exile, Habib Achi is currently residing in a hotel in Ben Aknoun in the suburbs of Algiers for at least a month and his care is assured, our sources certify, by the Directorate of Documentation and External Security (DDSE), namely Algerian foreign intelligence.
According to our sources, Habib Achi has led a negotiation process for more than a year with the Algerian secret services to obtain a “pardon” and a “rehabilitation” that cancels all the judicial convictions to which he had been subject during his last few years. Known for his very violent diatribes against the Algerian regime, Habi Achi became a public figure thanks to his media interventions, notably on the sets of the defunct Amel TV television channel of Hichem Aboud in 2019. He also became one of the figures of the “Parisian” Hirak movement, namely the popular gatherings and marches organized at Place de la République in the heart of the French capital from 2019 until 2021.
In 2022, Habi Achi began an in-depth rapprochement with officials of the Algerian secret services to negotiate his return to the country where he could even resume functions as a magistrate within the judicial system. But in the meantime, Habib Achi will have to play an important role in another disturbing affair: this is the future trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Tarek Amirat at the Blida military court.
This officer headed the security office of the Algerian embassy in Paris between 2017 and 2019 as a representative of the Algerian secret services to the French authorities. He is suspected of having concealed from the Algerian authorities precious documents and information concerning financial embezzlement and dubious bank transfers from members of the Bouteflika clan to Swiss financial establishments. Our sources finally emphasize that Habib Achi will have to be one of the key witnesses in this future trial during which Tarek Amirat will be tried.
