Algeria has ordered 12 French embassy officials to leave the country within 48 hours, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed on Monday, Euro News reported

The decision to expel the officials comes just days after prosecutors in France indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of kidnapping the Algerian influencer Amir Boukhors last year.

Boukhors, who has a large TikTok following, is a critic of the Algerian government, which wants him to return to face trial for alleged fraud and terror offences.

Amir DZ — as he is better known online — was abducted last April in a suburb of Paris, before being released the following day, according to his lawyer.

Barrot said the expulsion of diplomats was directly linked to the case of Boukhors, who has lived in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum there in 2023.

The French foreign minister has urged Algiers to reconsider the expulsions, saying that Paris would be forced to retaliate if it does not.

Although relations between France and its former colony have long been challenging, tensions worsened dramatically last July when French President Emmanuel Macron recognized the autonomy of Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.

Since then, the countries have clashed over other events, including the detention of the French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal in Algiers in November.