University of Chlef Restricts Faculty from Speaking to Foreign Media Without Internal Security Approval

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hassiba Ben Bouali University in Chlef, Algeria, has issued a new internal directive requiring history department professors to obtain prior written authorization before engaging with foreign media outlets. The instruction, dated May 8, 2025, emphasizes adherence to institutional regulations and seeks to ensure that public statements align with official state guidance. This measure comes a few days after the imprisonment of the academic Mohamed Lamine Belghit, prosecuted for “undermining national unity” following controversial comments on Amazighity made on an Emirati channel.

According to the directive, this measure is intended to “protect the image of the institution” and maintain consistency in academic communication within the framework of national policies. It further notes that any statement or interview conducted outside this authorization process may be considered an administrative violation and could result in disciplinary action.

The university administration called on faculty members to strictly comply with the new procedure and to follow legal protocols, particularly when approached by international media.

While the directive falls within the university’s authority to manage official communication, it raises broader questions about academic freedom and the extent to which scholars in Algeria can participate in public discourse, particularly on historical or political topics. In many democratic countries, institutions may require coordination for official representation, but restrictions directly tied to state alignment or disciplinary consequences for unsanctioned speech are not common.

For example, in the United Kingdom, professors at public universities like Oxford University or Cambridge University can speak freely to the media, provided they clarify that they are not speaking on behalf of the institution unless authorized. At Sciences Po in France, faculty often give interviews independently, even on sensitive political topics, without needing prior approval. In Germany, historians at universities like Humboldt or LMU Munich regularly publish controversial opinions or appear in foreign media without administrative constraints. By contrast, requiring prior authorization and threatening disciplinary action, especially in non-security fields like history, blurs the line between institutional protocol and speech control, which restricts academic freedom.

This is not the first instance of restrictions targeting Algerian academia. In 2023, the Ministry of Higher Education issued a nationwide instruction requiring all professors and students to obtain institutional authorization before participating in international academic conferences, even remotely. The ministry justified this by citing concerns over “misuse of opinions taken out of context for exploitative purposes.”. The policy sparked widespread criticism from Algerian academics at home and abroad, who saw it as a form of ideological surveillance. “It’s not just bureaucratization of thought, it’s incarceration,” commented Ali Bensaad, lecturer at the University of Provence. Others, like historian Amar Mohand Amer, called it schizophrenic: “On one side, talk of openness; on the other, practices that destroy academic liberties”.

Abderrahmane Fares.