Algeria Criminalizes French Colonial Rule, Seeks Apology, Reparations

By Al Mayadeen English

24 Dec 2025 21:27

Algeria’s parliament passes a law labeling French colonial rule a crime, opening the door to demands for an apology and reparations.

Algeria’s National People’s Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed legislation designating France’s century-long colonial rule over the North African country as a crime, a move that paves the way for demands for an official apology and compensation from Paris.

The bill formally classifies France’s colonisation of Algeria from June 14, 1830, to July 5, 1962, along with its “direct and indirect consequences,” as a crime, according to the assembly.

The legislation lists around 30 categories of crimes attributed to French colonial rule, including extrajudicial killings, torture, abductions, rape, the use of prohibited weapons, and the deliberate causing of environmental disasters. It also cites nuclear tests conducted by France in the Algerian Sahara, whose effects residents say are still felt today.

Under the law, any insult to national memory or acts that glorify, promote, or justify French colonialism would be punishable by five to 10 years in prison.

Lawmakers also accused the colonial authorities of banning education in the Arabic language, practising sexual slavery, desecrating mosques, promoting Christianity, and conscripting Algerians into the French armed forces during the First and Second World Wars.

Goal of historical justice

Parliament Speaker Brahim Boughali said the initiative was not directed against the French people but was aimed at achieving historical justice.

"Criminalizing colonialism is not aimed at the French people and does not pursue revenge or incite hatred… Rather, it proceeds from the established principle that crimes against humanity have no statute of limitation, cannot be justified by force, and cannot be consigned to oblivion through silence," Boughali said.

France was one of the world’s major colonial powers for centuries. Algeria remained under French rule for more than 130 years before gaining independence in 1962 following a war of national liberation. France continued nuclear testing in the Algerian desert until 1966, causing what Algerian officials describe as lasting damage.

Algerian lawmaker Ahmed Sadouk told RIA Novosti that African states should adopt a unified position on reparations from former colonial powers and use it to counter political pressure from Europe.

Earlier this month, African countries adopted a declaration following an international conference on combating colonial crimes on the continent, calling on former colonial powers to officially acknowledge responsibility for their colonial past and to establish compensation mechanisms.

Lawmakers criminalize French colonialism

Algeria’s National People’s Assembly launched in March an unprecedented parliamentary initiative aimed at enacting a law that criminalizes French colonialism.

The six parliamentary blocs represented in the assembly are coordinating efforts to ensure the proposal is introduced within a consensus-based framework, avoiding any core disagreements. This move comes amid rising tensions between Algeria and France following statements by French officials that glorify the colonial era.

According to the Algerian news outlet, a joint committee has been formed, comprising representatives from all parliamentary blocs alongside legal experts, to refine the bill’s content. The committee is set to be officially established this Sunday, after which it will begin drafting the initial version of the law. The draft will then be submitted to the assembly’s legal committee for discussion and further development.

A similar initiative was proposed in 2006 in response to a 2005 French law that praised colonial rule in Algeria. However, the earlier effort did not succeed at the time.