Despite the dismissal of the Cultural Attaché
in the Embassy of Tehran in Algeria, "Amir Mousavi", whose presence
was a major problem and crises within the Algerian street, still the Iranian
regime is trying to spread its ideas to penetrate the Algerian society.
On Wednesday, October 31, 2018, the Algiers
International Book Fair closed a pavilion called the World Assembly of
AhlulBayt (a term refers to the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) after
presenting offensive books about the companions of Prophet Muhammad, containing
extremist content promoting the Shiite faith.
Founded in 1990 by Ali Khamenei, the World
Assembly of AhlulBayt is an international network dedicated to the development
of periodic projects and plans for the world's Shi'a preaching. It is
supervised by high-level figures from elites and symbols of Shiites around the
world.
Among the books presented in the pavilion of the “World Assembly” are the
"Companions' Justice between Holiness and Reality" by Yahya
Abdel-Hassan Al-Dukhi and another book entitled "The Companions in Their
True Size", both books contained many offenses for the Companions. Another
book entitled "Husseini’s Revolution" by Ayatollah Baqir Hakim,
according to Algerian newspaper Al-Shorouk.
The head of the “reading and follow-up committee” at the Algerian Ministry of
Culture, Jamal Vogali, said that «this closure came after noting the book
titles which were previously rejected by the customs authority, according to
Algerian news agency APS.
In June, Algerian security forces arrested
dozens of African migrants in the so-called "Ansar al-Din", led by
the Shiite Sidi Sharif Othman Haidra in Mali, on the border with Algeria. This
came amid accusations of Iranian support for this organization within its
project to establish a Shiite arm in Algeria, similar to that of Hezbollah in
Lebanon.
The organization began to appear in 2017 and is estimated at 500 members,
mostly from Mali, which aims at establishing a Shiite group that attracts
Algerians, while various statistics estimate the number of Shiites in general,
between one million and two million people, in the east and south of Algeria,
especially in the state of Biskra, according to Aswat Magharbia website.
In April 2017, Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said that "the
Algerians are Sunnis and will never embrace the Shiite or Ahmadi sect."
Observers recognized Iran's role in spreading Shiism in Algeria and former
cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Algeria Amir Mousavi played a role
in spreading Shiite preaching in the country of one million martyrs.
Last September, Iran's controversial diplomat,
Amir Mousavi, left Algeria after spending four years on the cultural mission of
the Iranian embassy. He was accused of actively spreading Shi'ism and
attracting Algerians by traveling to Iraq, Lebanon and Iran.
In April, Algerian activists and bloggers launched a major campaign on social
networking sites calling for the "expulsion of the cultural attaché of the
Iranian embassy, Amir Mousavi”. Mousavi left the embassy last September.
Activists said that Mousavi was a real threat to Algerian security because of
his complex relations with civil society and his suspected activity in
spreading the Shiite ideology.
The Algerian activist Anwar Malik, accused Amir Mousavi of creating dangerous
networks for al-Fakih Ali Khamenei in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. He said in
a tweet that Mousavi had created strategic extensions of Hezbollah's terrorist
organization, and dismantling it is urgent for the Algerian national security
in particular and for Maghreb in general. "
the Algerian activist also accused Amir Mousavi of coordinating secret trips to
Tehran and Najaf with Algerian supporters.
Malik, the author of "The Secrets of Shiites and Terrorism in
Algeria," said that the Shiite tide in Algeria is backed by the Iranian
embassy and the cultural attaché, Amir Mousavi, who is active in networks of
Algerian Shiites who have visited Iran, Iraq and Syria before and have
connections with foreign intelligence services.
He pointed out that there are fears that the
Shiite transform from “minorities” to “armed militias” that target Algerian
national security, as happened in several Arab and Islamic countries.
At the same time, the researcher in the
Iranian affairs, Hisham Baqli, said that the closure of one of the Iranian
wings at the Book Fair in Algeria is an important development in the context of
combating Iranian actions in the region; as Tehran depends on the cultural
aspect to penetrate the Arab societies.
Al-Baqli told Al-Marjie that according to
Algeria, the Iranian wing was closed, in protest against some of the titles of
the Iranian religious books, which implies that the books provoke sectarian
strife, and works to spread the Shiite doctrine, in contrary to international
conventions and laws in all countries of the world.
Al-Baqli also said that although the Algerian
customs authorities objected to the titles of the Iranian books, Iran insisted
on presenting them in the book fair in order to deliver its messages and to
fabricate a crisis at the book fair, but the Algerian reaction was very
balanced and contained the crisis completely.
The researcher called all countries to beware
of the Iranian plans. “This is not the first, and will not be the last by
Tehran. All the Iranian cultural participations is a way for it to spread its
doctrine and to attract young people in exhibitions, seminars and even in film
festivals,” he added.
