Said Bouteflika, the younger brother of outgoing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 15, will be serving in military prison, who was the de facto ruler of the country in recent years, taking advantage of his family relationship with the president and his position as his special adviser.

Until the resignation of President Bouteflika on April 2, Said was in control of all state agencies through networks of management and businessmen and a significant number of staff of the judiciary, according to the testimonies of politicians.

Who is happy Bouteflika?

  • * 1957, Nedroma, Tlemcen Province, on the Algerian-Moroccan border.
  • The youngest of his nine brothers, his family's move to the capital allowed him to practice basic education in Abyar, one of the city's most prestigious neighborhoods.
  • He continued his higher education in France and received his doctorate in computer science from one of its universities.
  • He returned to Algeria to be a professor at the University of Houari Boumediene in Bab Ezzouar in Algiers, where he was known as an active trade unionist in the Union of University Professors.

Special Advisor

  • After Abdelaziz Bouteflika became president in 1999 in the midst of a severe economic and security crisis, Al-Said left the teaching profession at the university, and was entrusted with the directorate of the computer network of the presidency.
  • A few years later, he was promoted to Special Adviser to the President by presidential decree not published in the Official Gazette.
  • Only after the president's health deteriorated dramatically from mid-2011 to a paralysis on April 27, 2013, did public opinion emerge as a powerful and powerful man, forcing him to sit in a wheelchair.

Powerful network

  • He succeeded in passing his brother Abdel Aziz's project to lead the state to a fourth term in 2014.He is in a critical condition that prevented him from even completing the oaths.
  • Political circles and public opinion did not appreciate the true magnitude of Said Bouteflika's influence at the time, and it remained the belief that loyalist parties and mass organizations supported the president to lead the country for a fourth term.
  • However, statements by state officials and politicians confirmed that since the president suffered a stroke, Said Bouteflika became the actual president of the country, coordinating state affairs with all high government institutions.
  • He established close ties with businessmen, in particular the Forum of Heads of Enterprises (the largest gathering of businessmen), which funded and supported Bouteflika in his fourth term.

Go out into the open

  • In August 2017, the power of Said Bouteflika appeared in public when he sided with businessmen, particularly the chairman of the Forum of Heads of Institutions, Ali Haddad (currently imprisoned) in their conflict with then-Prime Minister Abdelmajid Taboun.
  • Photos from the funeral of former Prime Minister Reza Malik showed how Said Bouteflika spared Teboun with threatening and intimidating gaze and his successor Ali Haddad.
  • It was not a few days until Teboun was dismissed as prime minister and Ahmed Ouyahia succeeded him.
  • Public opinion at the time assured that Al-Sa'id is in control of the reins of power and that it is forbidden.
  • In late 2018, it was widely reported that Abdel Aziz's rule could be passed on to his younger brother, and marketing associations took over his image as an accomplishment.

Collapse

  • His determination to make a fifth term for his brother Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his hold on power to the last breath was a political suicide for him.
  • At the beginning of the peaceful marches on 22 February, the barrier of fear fell for everyone, especially the politicians who declared that the country is ruled by unconstitutional forces led by the president's brother.
  • Al-Said's collapse accelerated after his clash with the military establishment, which sided with popular demands that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika should leave.
  • The army leadership rejected the roadmap for Said and his brother, the president, to postpone the elections, hold a national seminar, and implement a state of emergency to prevent popular rallies.
  • The chief of staff thwarted Al-Saeed's plan with former intelligence chief Mohammed Madyan, who was aiming to remove army chief Ahmed Qaid Saleh, install a transitional president and dissolve parliament.
  • The two men, along with intelligence chief Major General Bashir Tartak and Labor Party Secretary-General Louisa Hanoune, were tried on charges of conspiring against the military and state authorities. They were convicted of 15 years in prison after months in May and imprisoned.