The writer Boualem Sansal is “not on hunger strike”, according to the president of Algiers

The Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, incarcerated since mid-November in Algeria, has not started a hunger strike or arrested his treatment, as his lawyer said in Paris, and intends to defend himself, according to the president of Algiers Mohamed Baghdadi. “Contrary to what has been written, he is not on hunger strike. And that’s good for him, because it would have been harmful to his health, “said Baghdadi on Tuesday to the Algerian newspaper El Watan.

According to French lawyer for the writer, Me François Zimeray, Boualem Sansal began a hunger strike “due to pressures against him to change lawyers”. Information denied by Me Baghdadi. Boualem Sansal “sent a letter to the investigating judge, the object of which is the deconstitution of all of his lawyers, including Me Zimeray,” said the Bâtonnier, according to whom “Mr. Sansal wrote that he wanted to defend himself”.

In addition, Boualem Sansal “did not stop his medical treatment”, assured Me Baghdadi, denying declarations of the French lawyer. “According to the teacher designated to supervise his care and his medical management, with whom I discussed, the protocol followed for the treatment of his cancer began to give good results,” said the president.

Prosecuted for damage to state security

Boualem Sansal was arrested at Algiers airport in mid-November and was continued under article 87 bis of the penal code, which sanctions in Algeria “as a terrorist or subversive act, any act aimed at the security of the State, the integrity of the territory, the stability and the normal functioning of the institutions”.

According to the French daily Le Monde, the Algerian power would have badly made its statements to the French media borders, renowned by the far right, taking up the position of Morocco according to which the territory of the latter country was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria.

In this interview, he also explained that the Moroccan kingdom had not been colonized “because it is a great state”: “It is easy to colonize small things that have no history, but colonize a state, it is very difficult. The writer also said that “the Algerian regime, which is a military regime, invented the Polisario [mouvement indépendantiste du Sahara occidental] To destabilize Morocco ”. Remarks liable, in Algeria, of legal proceedings for “attack on the morale of the army”.

Boualem Sansal has long claimed to have been born in 1949, which would give him 75 years today. His publisher Antoine Gallimard indicated in December that he was actually born in 1944, and was therefore 80 years old.