Algeria on Saturday rejected France's accusation of escalation, denouncing a "campaign of disinformation" in their latest diplomatic row after Algiers sent back to Paris an influencer deported from the European country.
"Algeria is in no way engaged in a logic of escalation... or humiliation," the Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing the extreme right in France of "waging a campaign of disinformation" against Algeria.
"Doualemn", a 59-year-old influencer, was detained by French authorities in the southern city of Montpellier after posting a controversial video on TikTok.
He was sent by plane to Algeria on Thursday, according to his lawyer, but was sent back to France the same evening as Algeria refused to let the influencer enter.
France's interior minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday accused Algeria of trying to humiliate the former colonial power.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot threatened restrictions to visas or development aid, telling LCI television that France would have "no option but to retaliate" if "the Algerians continue to escalate" the row.
The Algerian ministry said their decision was "motivated by the desire to allow him to respond to the accusations brought against him, to assert his rights and to defend himself within the framework of a fair and equitable judicial process on French territory".
Algerian social media influencers arrested in France for calling for violence
Tensions running high
Last week, police arrested three other Algerians suspected of inciting violence in TikTok videos, with at least two of them facing terror-related charges.
The arrests come amid growing political tensions between Paris and its former North African colony.
In particular after President Emmanuel Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara during a landmark visit to the kingdom last year.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is mostly under the de facto control of Morocco. But it is claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who are demanding a self-determination referendum and are supported by Algiers.
Meanwhile, French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, has been imprisoned by the Algerian authorities since mid-November on national security charges.
The detention of the 80-year-old writer has sparked outcry in France, with Barrot describing the charges as baseless.
Franco-Algerian writer Sansal held in Algeria on state security charges
(with AFP)
