Algeria has asked 12 French embassy staff to leave the country within 48 hours, France’s foreign minister has said.

Jean-Noël Barrot added that it was linked to the indictment of three Algerians in France on Friday, one of whom is a consular official.

They are accused of involvement in the abduction last year of Amir Boukhors, 41, an outspoken critic of Algeria’s government with an audience of more than one million people online. He had reportedly been granted asylum in France in 2023.

Barrot urged Algeria to “abandon” the expulsions and said France was ready to “respond immediately” if they went ahead.

Never before have French authorities arrested an employee from the Algerian consulate, and the fallout has set back recent attempts to improve relations between the two countries.

It also points to a power struggle in French politics, with some right-wing politicians accusing the presidency of pandering to Algeria, and the Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau recently threatening to quit unless President Emmanuel Macron backs a more hard-line approach.

Boukhors, also known as Amir DZ, has lived in France since 2016.

He was abducted in April 2024 in the southern suburbs of Paris and released the following day, according to his lawyer Eric Plouvier.

Plouvier told the AFP news agency that Boukhors had been “the subject of two serious attacks, one in 2022 and another on the evening of April 29 2024”.

French media reported that he was forced into a car with a flashing light by “fake police officers”, then released the next day in woodland without explanation.

Algerian authorities accuse the influencer of being “a saboteur linked to terrorist groups”. The North African nation has issued nine international arrest warrants against him, accusing him of fraud and associations with terrorist organisations.

He denies the allegations. In 2022, the French courts refused attempts to extradite him to Algeria.

The case is the latest in a growing number of incidents to have exacerbated a rift between France and Algeria.

They include the arrest and imprisonment in Algeria of French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal, who was accused of undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity.

Algeria recalled its ambassador from Paris last year after France backed Morocco’s claim to the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The 12 French officials asked to leave on Monday include some members of the French interior ministry, a diplomatic source told AFP.

On Monday, Barrot said: “I am asking Algerian authorities to abandon these expulsion measures… if the decision to send back our officials is maintained, we will have no other choice but to respond immediately.”

Barrot claimed that the expulsions were a response to the indictment of three Algerian nationals on Friday in Paris – including the consular official – on charges including abduction, arbitrary detention and illegal confinement and participating in a terrorist organisation.

Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had summoned French ambassador Stéphane Romatet in response to “express its strong protest” and called for the official’s immediate release, according to the official Algerian news agency.

It added that the individual “was arrested in public and then taken into custody without notification through the diplomatic channels”.

The ministry claimed the move was “not a coincidence as it happens in a very specific context with the aim of stymying the process of relaunching bilateral relations”.

Tentative steps have been made to repair relations between the two nations with a phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune taking place in March.

“The two presidents had a long, frank and friendly exchange on the state of bilateral relations and the tensions that have built up in recent months,” a joint statement read.

Following an official visit to Algeria on 6 April where he met with Tebboune, Barrot said he hoped for a “new phase” in relations.