The Spanish authorities have handed over to Algeria a “dissident” policeman accused of “belonging to a terrorist group”, against whom an international arrest warrant was issued along with three others, according to a judicial source and local media reported Monday.
On August 20, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior issued a decision to extradite the fugitive Algerian gendarme Mohamed Abdellah, 33, and prevent him from entering Spanish soil for 10 years.
This comes due to Abdullah’s affiliation with the Islamic Rashad Movement, which is classified as “terrorist” according to an expulsion warrant.
Local media reported that he arrived in Algeria, on Saturday night, and appeared on Monday morning before the investigative judge, who ordered his temporary imprisonment.
According to Al-Watan newspaper, issued on Monday, “Mohamed Abdullah and about thirty immigrants were transported on a ship, Saturday, from Almeria in Spain to Algeria.”
A judicial source told Agence France-Presse that “Mohamed Abdullah is in Algeria and has appeared before the civil judiciary, awaiting his appearance before the military court,” given that the National Gendarmerie is affiliated with the army.
On August 14, the former diplomat and opponent of the Algerian regime, Larbi Zitout, published a direct phone call with Mohamed Abdellah, after he was deported to a shelter in Barcelona, Spain.
Abdullah confirmed, during the phone call, that the Spanish judicial authorities informed him that he “represents a threat to Spanish national security; This requires his urgent deportation to Algeria.”
He added that the judicial authorities in Spain investigated him about his relationship with Elaraby Zitout; This prompted him to admit that he had received “simple funding” from the Algerian opposition, to spend his life affairs in Spain.
He expressed his hope that “the Algerians will support him in the corruption files he has uncovered that concern the Algerian leadership.”
It is noteworthy that Algeria signed an agreement in 2018 with Spain to combat irregular migration and exchange information regarding common national security, which is one of the legal frameworks on which the Spanish court relied, to deport Mohamed Abdellah.
On March 22, the Algerian prosecutor issued international arrest warrants for 4 activists abroad, including Mohamed Abdallah, accusing them of belonging to a “terrorist group”.
The prosecution explained that the charges are “the felony of involvement in a terrorist group that carries out acts targeting state security and national unity, the felony of financing a terrorist group that commits acts targeting state security, and the misdemeanour of money laundering within the framework of a criminal group.”
The other defendants are former diplomat, UK-based Mohamed Larbi Zitout, one of the founders of the Islamist Rachad Movement, which Algeria designated a “terrorist organization” in May.
As well as the blogger Amir Boukhars, known as “Amir DZ”, who lives in France, and the former captain in the army, journalist and writer Hisham Abboud, also residing in France.
All of them publish videos, on social media, against the Algerian regime.
