Paris administrative court cancels emergency expulsion of Algerian influencer Doualemn

The “absolute emergency” expulsion of the Algerian influencer Doualemn, convicted of “inciting violence” on a social network, was canceled by the Paris administrative court, which also canceled the withdrawal of his residence permit, according to a decision consulted Friday by AFP.

Boualem Naman, known under the pseudonym “Doualemn”, was arrested in Montpellier for having called for “a severe correction” to an opponent of the Algerian regime in a video posted on the social network Tik Tok on January 4, 2025. Last July, the Montpellier Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment at first instance, condemning the 61-year-old influencer, who does not hide his sympathies for the government of Algiers, to five months suspended prison sentence for “incitement to violence”.

In its judgment, the court considered that the elements reported by the Ministry of the Interior "could not be sufficient to demonstrate that the presence of Boualem Naman, who certainly represents a serious threat to public order (...), would pose an immediate risk to the point of justifying his expulsion in absolute urgency, while in addition the judicial authority did not consider it useful to place him in pre-trial detention or even under judicial supervision while awaiting his trial."

“Under these conditions (...) the Minister of the Interior tainted his decision with irregularity,” continues the court. The court thus concludes that "the decision to expel Mr. Naman (...) must be annulled as well as, consequently, the decisions of the same day withdrawing his residence permit and setting Algeria as the country of expulsion."

However, the court did not rule on the request for annulment of a second expulsion order, but which did not invoke absolute urgency. Mr. Naman can therefore still potentially be expelled from France. His lawyer, Me Vanessa Edberg, is studying the possibility of taking the matter to the Administrative Court of Appeal, she told AFP on Friday. During the hearing two weeks ago, the lawyer deplored that her client had been “used as a political pawn”.

“Mr. Retailleau rushed in without serious examination of the case and used the judicial power for political purposes,” she denounced. The influencer's arrest was announced on the