The Algerian authorities prevented journalist, novelist, and playwright Mustapha Benfodil from leaving the country on 13 July 2026, as he was traveling to France to participate in the Avignon Festival, where he was scheduled to present a theatrical work documenting the impact of the French nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara.
This travel ban follows his summons on 18 January 2026 by the General Intelligence Services for questioning over an article published in the newspaper El Watan, which discussed an academic study on the risks of shale gas. No judicial proceedings resulted from that interrogation. He was subsequently subjected to a travel ban without any written or reasoned decision.
SHOAA considers this case to be a clear illustration of the contradiction between the Algerian authorities’ official discourse and the country’s human rights reality. While the authorities claim to defend national memory and denounce the crimes of colonialism, an Algerian journalist and writer is prevented from presenting an artistic work documenting the consequences of French nuclear testing in the Algerian Sahara. The organization also recalls that the Algerian authorities have yet to respond to communications from the UN Special Rapporteurs concerning the consequences of the French nuclear tests—communications that Shoaa helped bring before the United Nations human rights mechanisms.
This measure also contradicts President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s recent statements in Berlin welcoming political opposition and respecting freedom of expression. At the same time, restrictions on freedom of expression, artistic creativity, and freedom of movement continue, reflecting the ongoing shrinking of civic space and the absence of genuine political will to tolerate dissenting views.
SHOAA emphasizes that the travel ban imposed on Mustapha Benfodil is not an isolated case. Rather, it forms part of a continuing practice targeting journalists, activists, political opponents, and human rights defenders. The Algerian authorities continue to impose this arbitrary measure without a judicial order or a written and reasoned decision, despite repeated UN recommendations calling for an end to the use of travel restrictions outside legal safeguards and for full respect of the right to freedom of movement.
SHOAA calls on the Algerian authorities to immediately lift the travel ban imposed on Mustapha Benfodil, to end the use of travel restrictions as a tool to suppress freedom of expression and artistic creativity, and to guarantee freedom of the press and public debate in accordance with Algeria’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.
