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Algeria Strips MP of his Mandate over Past Involvement in French Foreign Legion

An Algerian lawmaker was stripped of his mandate by parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France. (Reuters)
An Algerian lawmaker was stripped of his mandate by parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France. (Reuters)
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Algeria Strips MP of his Mandate over Past Involvement in French Foreign Legion

An Algerian lawmaker was stripped of his mandate by parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France. (Reuters)
An Algerian lawmaker was stripped of his mandate by parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France. (Reuters)

An Algerian was stripped of his mandate by parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France.

Parliament announced in a statement on Wednesday that it had decided by a majority of its members to strip Mohamed Bekhadra of his mandate as deputy in a vote behind closed doors.

Citing a report by the parliament’s legal commission, local media reported that Bekhadra had served in the Foreign Legion.

The report, which AFP was able to consult, concludes that the deputy "was not qualified to run" in the elections.

According to the text, "the fact that the member admitted having served in a foreign army with the rank of corporal means that his loyalty is to a foreign state."

Bekhadra published a video on Facebook saying that "he had joined the French army to obtain his residence papers and finance his studies"

"I cannot be stripped of my mandate simply because I served as a military nurse with a short-term contract in a foreign army," he said.

“I turned this page 15 years ago, I did not betray my country because no law prohibits what I did.”

A member of the Algerian National Front (FNA), Bekhadra was elected deputy of the Algerian community abroad in the constituency of Marseille, during the legislative elections of June 2021.

The Foreign Legion is a unit of the elite and special forces of the French Armed Forces. It consists of more than 9,000 men aged between 17-39 from around the world. After years, the soldier could become a French citizen.

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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.