That day became his ” hell “. He doesn’t go out. Ismail Snabi is kidnapped by a vacation memory that makes him ” angry “. In his gray living room, this 28-year-old French-Moroccan repeats his story like a traumatized dervish. “I didn’t expect that”breathes Israa, his wife. On September 5, she was able to return home, in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), with her three children. (6 years, 4 years and 3 years), after a year imprisoned in Algeria.
On August 29, 2023, this mechanic was detained by an Algerian coast guard unit while riding a jet ski with three of his family members. Around 8:00 p.m., the four men, short of gasoline, got lost in the fog in Algerian territorial waters while trying to return, after a long trip by sea, to the marina of Saïdia, a border town between Algeria and northeastern Morocco. .
The mistake will be fatal for Bilal Kissi, a 28-year-old French-Moroccan, and for Abdelali Mchiouer, a 40-year-old Moroccan who lives in the suburbs of Paris, killed that afternoon by shots attributed to the Algerian patrol. Mohamed Kissi, 33, Bilal’s brother, managed to swim away and find his family in Morocco. The soldiers take Ismail away. “I lost two brothers for nothing.”he repeats, taking another drag on another cigarette. “I don’t even want to remember this day, but it started very well.”confess before detailing it in World.
“I tell myself that they will help us”
It’s five in the afternoon. The sky is an insolent blue, the sea as flat as a lake. With his friends, they go by jet ski to Cap-de-l’Eau, a fishing village located about twenty minutes west of Saïdia. There they stop at a restaurant on the beach: tea, juice, fish, baghrirs (a type of pancake)… The moment is hello (sweet in Arabic) and light.
It’s late, we have to go home. Ismail Snabi and Mohamed Kissi each drive a jet ski, while their brother Bilal and Abdelali Mchiouer share a third. “We do tricks, Snapchats. Then, night falls, the fog rises”, remembers Ismail Snabi. Then everyone thinks about heading towards the marina; but the way back is long, too long for his liking. “I stop and tell Mohamed that we made a mistake. “We only see something white in the distance, there is no sign in the sea.”points out.
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