Authoritarian regimes have long utilized imprisonment, exile, and censorship to silence their critics. But in Algiers, the military-backed government has just codified a far more insidious weapon: the total erasure of identity. With the formal enactment of new, draconian amendments to the 1970 Nationality Law this week, the Algerian state has officially embraced "civil death" as its primary tool against political dissent.
The message echoing from the halls of the El Mouradia Palace is unmistakable: citizenship is no longer an inherent right of the Algerian people; it is a temporary lease, strictly conditional upon absolute subservience to the regime.
The weaponization of identity
The genesis of this legislative purge traces back to late 2025, when President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ominously called on citizens to unite against "the traitor in the house." That rhetoric has now been crystallized into law. Published in the official gazette after a rubber-stamp parliamentary approval, the revised Article 22 grants the state sweeping powers to strip native-born Algerians of their nationality.
The criteria for this civic excommunication are terrifyingly broad. The law targets anyone accused of committing acts that "harm the fundamental interests of Algeria," threaten "national unity," or undermine "state security." It explicitly outlines six conditions for revoking citizenship, including "openly practicing hostile activities," showing loyalty to a foreign state, or acting on behalf of a "hostile entity."
In practice, these elastic legal definitions are a dragnet designed to crush the diaspora and the intelligentsia. We have already seen the preamble to this strategy. The internationally acclaimed Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal was previously thrown into a dark cell, accused of "harming national unity" simply for wielding a pen. Meanwhile, figures like Ferhat Mehenni, the Paris-based leader of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), are the clear, immediate targets of this new legal guillotine. By targeting dissidents who have sought refuge overseas, Algiers is attempting to extend its authoritarian reach beyond its borders, threatening exiles with statelessness if they dare to speak out.
Suffocating the political sphere
If the weaponization of citizenship targets the individual, the regime’s parallel moves in the parliament are designed to suffocate institutional life. Simultaneously, the Algerian government is aggressively pushing a new "Law on Political Parties." Presented under the guise of "moralizing political life," the legislation is a masterclass in state hegemony.
The Minister of the Interior recently laid out the stark new reality: crippling restrictions on party funding, the complete prohibition of any political activity based on religious or regional identities, and the power of the executive to suspend or dissolve parties that fail to meet arbitrary electoral participation quotas.
While loyalist parties praise these moves as a defense against "fourth-generation warfare," the reality is much darker. The regime is systematically dismantling any remaining infrastructure for democratic transition. Opposition parties, particularly those that boycotted the 2021 elections, are now forced into a desperate scramble to comply, terrified of the legislative meat grinder that awaits them.
A geopolitical red flag
Algeria’s descent into paranoia should be a glaring red flag. A regime that views its own citizens as an existential threat is inherently unstable.
These extreme domestic measures are inextricably linked to Algeria’s escalating external tensions. The regime’s isolationist posture has driven a wedge between Algiers and its neighbors, particularly Morocco and Mali, while severely straining ties with historic partners like France. By incessantly raising the specter of "hostile foreign forces" and "treason," the military elite is attempting to manufacture a perpetual state of siege. It is a classic authoritarian distraction tactic: invent foreign enemies to justify the crushing of domestic liberties.
Furthermore, these actions reflect the broader playbook of the anti-Western axis in the region. The centralization of power, the criminalization of dissent, and the aggressive posturing toward neighboring states that pursue peace and integration—such as Morocco’s commitment to the Abraham Accords—highlight a regime that thrives on regional friction.
The illusion of amnesty
In a transparent attempt to mask this authoritarian overreach, the Algerian presidency recently dangled a hollow "appeasement initiative," offering to drop charges against overseas activists if they sign written pledges to cease all opposition activities. It is extortion disguised as diplomacy. The state is offering to spare dissidents from statelessness, but only in exchange for their silence.
Algeria’s new legal framework is not an indicator of a strong state protecting its national security; it is the frantic thrashing of an insecure elite terrified of its own people. By transforming the basic human right of citizenship into a weapon of war, the Algerian regime is charting a dangerous course—one that promises further isolation, regional instability, and a tragic era of statelessness for those brave enough to demand a better future.
- Amine Ayoub, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco. Follow him on X: @amineayoubx