Algeria declared the French colony guilty and demanded reparations

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian lawmakers have voted to decriminalize France’s colonization of the North African country, approving a law calling for the return of property taken during France’s 130-year rule, among other demands seeking to redress historical wrongs.

France criticized the law as a “hostile act” that threatens bilateral efforts to heal past wounds. The two countries maintain close cultural and economic ties, but diplomatic relations remain strained.

In a solemn ceremony steeped in symbolism, 340 of the 407 members of Algeria’s National Assembly voted to approve the law late Wednesday. The move comes weeks after African countries made a collective resolution to seek recognition and reparations for colonial-era crimes.

The law covers the date of July 5, 1962, the date of Algeria’s official independence, from the landing of King Charles X’s troops on the beaches of Sidi Ferrouch west of Algiers in 1830.

The text provides for the restoration of Algerian archives and property transferred to France during the colonial period and the transmission to Algeria of detailed maps of French nuclear tests carried out in Algeria from 1960 to 1966. It also called for the return of the remains of some Algerian resistance fighters taken to France.

The law stipulates prison terms for any act by an Algerian celebrating French colonialism, attacking symbols of Algerian resistance and “comments with colonial connotations”.

France is unlikely to heed demands in law.

The law is “a clearly hostile initiative,” the French foreign ministry’s spokesman’s office told The Associated Press in a statement. It noted efforts under French President Emmanuel Macron to address colonial-era grievances, adding: “We continue to work towards the renewal of dialogue,” particularly on security and migration issues.

Macron, in 2017, described elements of France’s history in Algeria as crimes against humanity, but stopped short of an official apology. Meanwhile, a resurgent far-right in France celebrates the colonialists.

The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is staggering. Algeria suffered the most brutal forms of French colonial rule.

The nearly one million European settlers enjoyed great political, economic, and social privileges, even though Algeria was legally part of France and its people were conscripted in World War II. Hundreds of thousands died in the Algerian revolution, during which French forces tortured prisoners, disappeared suspects and destroyed villages as a counterinsurgency tactic to maintain their grip on power.

The Lower House of Parliament was decorated with a giant Algerian flag as Speaker Mohamed Boghali delivered his inaugural address on Wednesday.

“Today, December 24, 2025, is a historic day that will be written in golden letters in the national story,” he began, before MPs interrupted with part of Algeria’s national anthem: “O France, the hour of reckoning has arrived … We vowed to revive Algeria, endure!

The speaker called the law “a political message and a clear moral stance.”

Government officials, professors, and Bill Champion, former members of parliament, were all invited to the ceremony. After the speaker announced that the law had been passed, ‘Allahu Akbar! and “Tahya Al Jazair!” (Long live Algeria!) rose from the floor.

“This is a special day for me, full of emotion and pride. Today is the culmination of a long struggle that we started in 2001 with fellow members of parliament to remember and honor all those who fought against French colonialism,” former lawmaker Mohammad Arezki Ferad, who initiated the bill, told the AP.

Consisting of five chapters and 27 articles, the law declares that colonial-era crimes have no demarcation.