'Wanted' Franco-Algerian journalist departs Tunis after Paris mediation

Franco-Algerian journalist Amira Bouraoui has finally left Tunisia for France after being in danger of extradition to Algeria where she would be arrested for her anti-state reporting.

Over the weekend, Bouraoui, a journalist in the private Algerian Radio M, tempted fate when she attempted to board a flight to France from the airport in Tunis. Tunisian border police immediately detained her for "illegal entry" into Tunisian territory and threatened to extradite her to Algiers.

The dual national journalist, like her colleague Ihsan El-Kadi, was prohibited from leaving Algerian soil and illegally crossed into neighbouring Tunisia a few days ago using her French passport.

Bouraoui, a figure of the opposition and a gynaecologist, faced early on Monday a judge in Tunis who released her and gave her back her French passport at the hearing. 

Hashem Badra, the journalist's lawyer, says she was kidnapped as soon as she left the Tunisian magistrate's office by two agents of the judicial police.

The French diplomatic mission in Tunis quickly intervened putting Bouraoui in safety for a few hours at the French embassy until they obtained authorisation from Tunisian president Kaïs Saïed to let her leave for France.

On Monday evening, Bouraoui finally boarded a Transavia flight in the direction to Lyon, confirmed a French diplomatic source involved in the discussions that led to her departure to French daily Le Monde.

Bouraoui was sentenced in May 2021 to two years in prison for "offending Islam" and "attacking the person of the President of the Republic" without a warrant of committal at the hearing. Thus, she was not jailed.

Since September 2022, Bouraoui hosted a weekly political program, "Le Café politique presse," broadcasted on the private media Radio M, whose director, Ihsane El-Kadi, was imprisoned late last year. 

For the past three years, El-Kadi, who does not have the French passport privilege, faced relentless judicial harassment until his arrest on 29 December.

Algerian authorities are holding at least 280 activists and dozens of journalists in detention, mostly for defamation of politicians or because of posts on social networks.

Algeria is ranked 134th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 World Press Freedom Index.