The Algerian authorities officially and directly accused the opposition YouTuber, the refugee in France, Amir Boukhras, of paying money to two people in exchange for starting the fires that struck the east of the country last summer. The confessions made by these two people may put their lives at risk of execution, in the first step of its kind since the adoption of amendments to the criminal code last month, which reactivated the death penalty.
Since Wednesday evening, an exciting video has been circulating through the accounts of the Algerian Ministry of Defense, which includes excerpts from video recordings, which the ministry said it would publish in full at a later time. The video contains accusations against one of the most prominent dissidents residing abroad, and the one who most troubles the authorities in Algeria, which has repeatedly sought to deport him from France, without success. This has thrown relations between Algeria and Paris into a spiral that does not seem to have a way out in the near future.
The beginning of the video is accompanied by a faint voice of a person explaining the reasons that prompted the two people to set fires, before they appear in the video, where he indicates that Boukhras, without mentioning him by name, “exploited their social circumstances” in order to carry out the arson crime, and that he lured them with money and gave them false promises of achieving wealth, and also “sold them illusions from beyond the sea.” In return, the two individuals guaranteed the implementation of “acts of sabotage targeting the security and safety of the nation.”
The video attributes the two accused persons to “burning forests, destroying wealth, and inflicting heavy losses on the capabilities of the Algerian people,” and explains that the one who instructed them to do so, i.e. Boukhras, whose name is not mentioned, “is seeking to achieve the interests of those who fund him abroad, and he carries out their orders aimed at spreading an atmosphere of insecurity within Algerian society and undermining its stability.”
After this speech, a young man in his thirties appears in the video. He mentions that he was in contact with Boukhras, known on social media platforms as “Amir Di Zad,” and he was quoted as saying: “That country (Algeria) must catch fire!” He was also quoted as saying: “I will arrange for your entry visa to France, and I will pay for you the costs of a (white marriage),” which is a form of marriage in France that is officially concluded, but without a real intention to build a marital life. With the aim of obtaining residency in France, or settling the legal status of one of the spouses.
What Boukhras proposes to this young man, according to what was stated in his words, is that he will find him a woman of French nationality who is willing to marry him, provided that he pays her; Instead, a financial reward for a marriage contract that is not real in reality.
As for the second person, also a young man in his thirties, called “Islam,” he was related to the controversial opposition figure, and he was quoted asking this question: “What can you do in Constantine?”, indicating that he asked him to know the extent of his willingness to set fire to the vegetation in this state located in the east of the country, which was struck by fire last summer.
The duration of the video is one minute and 45 seconds, and the supervisors of the Media and Communications Service at the Ministry of Defense chose the title for it: “Exposing the machinations of treason and the threads of employment.” It is expected that other details about the accusation against Boukhras will be presented when the full documentary is broadcast on public television channels.
For the first time, an accusation has been brought against a known party in the case of the fires, which destroyed large forest areas, fields, and agricultural crops. The coastal state of Jijel (450 kilometers east of the capital) was the most affected area, where dozens of people died after fires surrounded them in the forests and mountains, inflicting heavy losses on their property. It is noteworthy that the authorities did not provide an official toll on the victims of the raging fires, even though two and a half months have passed since the disaster.
During an interview broadcast on public television on October 3, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stated that these fires were “argumentative,” stressing that “there are those who took advantage of some mentally ill people” in setting forest fires, and promised that “the time will come when we will expose everything.”
Algeria places the forty-year-old dissident Amir Boukhras among its most wanted persons, and he was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in 4 cases between 2022 and 2024.
According to the French media, President Tebboune asked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, during their previous meetings, to work on his extradition. However, the Paris court rejected all warrants for his arrest and deportation issued by Algeria, usually stating that “the conditions for a fair trial for him are not available in Algeria.”
The YouTuber became famous for recordings on his TikTok account, in which he criticizes, and sometimes insults, the country's senior civilian and military officials.
Amir formed an episode in the crisis that broke out between Algeria and France, following the Elysee Palace’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara in 2024, as his attacks against officials escalated during this period. In April of the same year, Amir was kidnapped by unknown persons in Paris, then released after being detained, while this case is still shrouded in mystery.
In 2025, the French prosecution charged 7 Algerians with planning and carrying out the kidnapping. An employee of an Algerian consulate was later imprisoned after being accused; Which raised the tension between the two countries to high levels, especially since the French prosecution recently rejected the request for his release.
