Algeria Gate: The extradition case of Ayoub Aissiou, a former businessman arrested in Barcelona on July 25 on the basis of an international arrest warrant, is stirring surprising mobilization within certain French political and media circles, even though nothing in this purely judicial matter appears to justify such agitation.
Convicted by Algerian courts and wanted for economic and financial offenses, Aissiou is the subject of extradition proceedings to Algiers. Yet several French public figures are now calling on Madrid not to hand him over to Algerian authorities, presenting him as a “political opponent”; a label that raises questions, given that the man has no connection whatsoever to journalism, literature, or the defense of political ideas.
This mobilization strangely echoes the one deployed around Boualem Sansal, who is himself a signatory of the appeal sent to Spanish authorities on Aïssiou’s behalf. While the Sansal case could be dressed up under the pretext of defending a “writer,” backed by the CRIF and France’s literary elite, the same mechanism now appears to be applied to a case of a strictly financial nature, with no apparent justification.
One essential question remains: what does Ayoub Aissiou actually know? A former figure in business circles with ties to networks of power in both France and Morocco, he could hold sensitive information on financial circuits, intermediaries, shell companies, and political protections inherited from the former system. All of this, in the event of thorough questioning by Algerian justice, could shed light on names and influence networks that remain active today.
This case also fits within the broader framework of the proxy war waged by the Makhzen against Algeria, backed by French, Israeli, and Emirati relays. In this context, public figures, media outlets, and business networks based in Europe can become instruments serving interests far larger than the individual case of a businessman prosecuted for financial crimes.
Beyond the opportunistic rhetoric about “human rights,” the real question raised by this case is simple: who has an interest in preventing Ayoub Aïssiou from speaking before Algerian justice? The profile of those rallying to his defense; largely close to the pro-Israel lobby in France, leaves little doubt as to the true nature of what lies behind this agitation.
