According to several consistent sources, Souag was removed amid strong suspicions of interference, particularly for allegedly receiving direct instructions from Algeria’s ambassador in Doha, himself a key link to the military establishment in Algiers. In other words, Mustapha Souag is believed to have acted as a Trojan horse within Al Jazeera, serving Algerian propaganda on behalf of a regime increasingly isolated on the international stage and discredited among its own citizens.
This crude attempt at infiltration once again illustrates the regime’s fixation on exporting propaganda and controlling media narratives, even as it fails to ensure press freedom at home. Independent Algerian outlets are silenced, journalists muzzled, and dissenting voices prosecuted or jailed.
The Doha fiasco also exposes the outdated methods of a ruling system that still operates under Cold War logic: infiltration, manipulation, and instrumentalization, carried out in disregard of professional standards and journalistic ethics. The result is a global humiliation for Algeria, with Mustapha Souag emerging as a symbol of the decline of a corrupt military-political apparatus willing to sacrifice its own figures solely to protect its interests. A stinging blow for a regime desperately seeking international credibility, yet sinking deeper each day into discredit and isolation.
Translated from Abderrazzak Boussaid’s French article – le7tv