Algerian presidential orders to assassinate “Amir DZ” in France spark a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Algiers
French media reveal that Algerian President Abdel‑Madjid Tebboune allegedly issued direct instructions to liquidate the dissident “Amir DZ” on French soil, setting off an unprecedented diplomatic and security affair between Paris and Algiers.
What began on the night of 29 April 2024 as a mysterious abduction in Val‑de‑Marne has turned into a cross‑border terrorism case closely monitored by French intelligence and the National Anti‑Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators suspect that the Directorate of Documentation and External Security (DGDSE) planned and carried out the operation under diplomatic cover, with the blessing of Algeria’s highest authorities.
According to Le Journal du Dimanche, four men wearing police armbands stopped Amir Boukhors’s car (known as “Amir DZ”), forced him out, and drove him to an unknown location; his vehicle was later found burned. While detained, the activist was forced to ingest a liquid containing benzodiazepine in a potentially lethal dose, plunging him into a coma inside a windowless metal chamber.
French services quickly identified an Algerian consular employee repeatedly seen near Amir’s home and the abduction site; he proved to be a DGDSE officer operating under diplomatic cover, aided by a “vice‑consul” and a former security officer from the Algerian Embassy in Paris. The presence of at least three intelligence agents confirms that this was a meticulously prepared state operation.
More alarming still, the cell allegedly infiltrated French institutions: a Franco‑Algerian IT engineer at the Ministry of Finance provided sensitive data on journalists and Algerian opponents, helped by an employee at the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII) with whom he had a romantic relationship. Both were arrested in December 2024, and their confessions prompted the anti‑terrorism prosecutor to open a formal investigation for terrorist offences.
Cross‑checked French and Algerian sources state that President Tebboune gave the green light after failing to secure Amir DZ’s extradition; the activist had gained political‑refugee status in 2023. Execution was allegedly entrusted to General Mehena Djebbar, working with General Rachdi Fethi Moussaoui, a close associate of the president’s son.
As the noose tightened, one officer fled France in November 2024, followed by the “vice‑consul,” who transited through Italy. The third officer returned to Algeria for the year‑end holidays, then was arrested upon re‑entering Paris in April 2025; his phone is thought to contain evidence that could implicate senior figures.
The affair thus goes far beyond a botched kidnapping: it is a full‑fledged intelligence operation combining diplomatic immunity, administrative leaks, and collusion within the diaspora. Leaks hint at similar plots against other opponents in Europe.
While Paris remains officially silent, Le Journal du Dimanche warns that a major “state scandal” is brewing—one that could shake Franco‑Algerian relations for years and alarm European capitals confronted with Algeria’s willingness to pursue its critics deep inside Western democracies.
