The younger brother of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who killed 86 people on the Promenade des Anglais in 2016, was placed in administrative detention on July 9 and now faces deportation to Tunisia, days before the tenth anniversary of the attack.
H. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, had been squatting a studio near the Promenade since arriving in France via Paris in March 2024, according to a joint investigation by ICI Azur and Nice-Matin. The property manager, identified only as Imen, said she had begged national police for weeks to intervene, describing a tenant who never paid rent, flooded a neighbour's apartment for six hours, and threatened to set the building alight. "He told me, you don't know who my brother is, I'm the terrorist's brother," she said. Imen and other residents filed a complaint on July 9, and police arrested him that evening.
The Alpes-Maritimes préfecture confirmed it issued a deportation order the following day, describing the process as routine for any foreign national in an irregular situation. "I thank the national police officers who carried out this arrest tonight, under the prosecutor's authority," the préfet wrote on X. "All necessary administrative and judicial measures will be taken against him." Lahouaiej-Bouhlel has 48 hours to contest the order before the administrative court, with a ruling expected Monday, the eve of both Bastille Day and the attack's tenth anniversary.
News of the arrest, breaking six days before Sunday's commemorative march, drew a pointed reaction from one victims' association. "It's dramatic that ten years later, we find ourselves hours from the tribute with the terrorist's brother less than 200 metres from the Prom, while a memorial walk is due to take place this Sunday," a representative said.