Spanish MPs question government over kidnapping of Hichem Aboud
A group of members of the Spanish Congress, led by Francisco Javier Ortega Smith-Molina, MP for Madrid, councillor and spokesperson for VOX in the Municipal Assembly of Madrid, and his colleagues from the same party, have officially questioned the Spanish Government through a written parliamentary question, regarding the kidnapping in Barcelona and release in Seville of the Algerian opposition journalist and writer Hichem Aboud.
The written parliamentary question (registration number 48199) was submitted on 11 November 2024 and published in the Official Gazette of the Spanish Parliament on 25 November 2024 under the title: ‘Kidnapping of the Algerian journalist and writer Hichem Aboud in Barcelona (184/016897)’.
On the night of Thursday 17 October, Hichem Aboud was allegedly abducted in Barcelona by four armed men wearing balaclavas, a few metres from the residence where he was to stay during his stay in Spain.
‘They violently put me in the back seat of a car without number plates, which drove off at full speed in the direction of Malaga, following the orders of the gang leader’, Aboud declared at the time.
Throughout the journey, which lasted throughout the night of 17-18 October and until midday, the Algerian journalist feared for his safety and his possible forced return to Algeria, where he was likely to face severe repression by the Algerian state for his activism against the political abuses committed by the government against the opposition. Hichem Aboud has spent the last few years denouncing the abuses of the Algerian regime, in particular ‘the repression of all freedom of expression, corruption, plunder and everything else that has brought chaos to a rich country’.
The two alleged kidnappers who were holding the Algerian journalist were the only ones left when the Guardia Civil stormed the scene to arrest them. The rest of the group fled.
Now they are seeking further clarification of the situation and so comes the proposal led by the VOX party. With this initiative, the VOX political party is demanding clear answers about the nationality and legal situation of the suspects arrested for the kidnapping of Hichem Aboud, and more information about their alleged links with other criminal gangs and possible criminal records.
This proposal for clarification and investigation comes after the Guardia Civil released the Algerian journalist in Lebrija (Seville), where he was found bound and gagged as two people were allegedly trying to board a boat, all of them arriving from Barcelona. The suspects are currently in custody while the investigation and judicial proceedings continue.
The affair caused an international uproar, especially after attempts to discredit Hichem Aboud's testimony. Nadia Pajarón, spokesperson for the Unified Police Union (SUP), formally denied the accusations about Aboud's alleged Moroccan nationality, putting an end to rumours that had been circulating about the Algerian journalist and activist's nationality and his alleged links to Morocco, Algeria's political rival in the Maghreb.
The Spanish government has until 19 December 2024 to respond to the questions raised.
This parliamentary initiative is part of a broader context in which press freedom and the safety of journalists are increasingly in the spotlight, especially with the European Parliament sitting on Wednesday 27 November to debate the illegal detention of the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, in a context marked by an aggressive media campaign in Algeria targeting intellectuals such as Sansal and Kamel Daoud, and in which European democracies are facing complex challenges in terms of security and respect for fundamental rights.
A response from the Spanish government is therefore expected and will be scrutinised by international analysts to see how freedom of the press is treated and defended.
With this initiative, VOX MPs seem to send a clear message that abuses against journalists and opponents in any field will not be allowed.