Algiers has recalled its ambassador to France, Said Moussi, for consultations, following the actions of the French diplomatic mission to Tunisia to prevent the extradition of an Algerian activist, Amira Bouraoui, according to a Wednesday statement by the president's office.
Algeria sentenced the activist to two years in prison in May 2021 for offending Islam, insulting the President of the Republic, and posting publications that could harm public order.
The sentence was expected to enter into force in May 2023, and she was prohibited from leaving the country.
Nevertheless, she illegally fled to Tunisia using her second - French - passport, where she was immediately detained by Tunisian border police at Carthage Tunis Airport while trying to leave the country for France on February 3.
Bouraoui was supposed to be extradited to Algiers. However, due to French diplomatic pressure on Tunisian authorities, a Tunisian court released her, and then Bouraoui gained asylum at the French Embassy until she obtained permission to leave Tunisia for France, French media reported.
These actions were a "clandestine and illegal exfiltration of an Algerian national, whose physical presence on the national territory is prescribed by Algerian justice," said the Algerian president's office.
Earlier on Wednesday, in an official note to the Embassy of France, the Algerian Foreign Ministry described this as violation of national sovereignty by the diplomatic, consular and security staff of its former metropole, emphasizing that it was an "unacceptable development which causes great damage to Algerian-French relations."