Stripped of his Algerian nationality, the writer Boualem Sansal is “only French now”

He obtained French nationality in 2024. Two years later, this Thursday, the writer Boualem Sansal claimed to have been “stripped of Algerian nationality” during a meeting in a high school in the 9th arrondissement of Paris). “There are still some formalities in progress, but in fact, I am only French now,” he detailed, as reported by Le Figaro.

The life of this former Algerian civil servant changed on November 16, 2024 when he was arrested upon his arrival in Algiers from Paris, before being imprisoned. His fate immediately caused a stir in France, where a campaign was launched in favor of this claimed atheist, fierce opponent of the jihadists and fierce critic of the power of Algiers.

A dissident writer admiring Camus and Orwell, a polemicist revered by the French right, the novelist was sentenced to five years in prison, accused of “undermining national unity” after statements in October 2024 to the far-right French media Frontières on Algeria and Morocco. Before benefiting from a pardon granted by the Algerian president.

An “immortal”

Boualem Sansal became an “immortal” at the end of January by being easily elected to the French Academy, almost three months after being released from prison in Algeria. On January 1, he was also one of the distinguished personalities in the promotion of the Legion of Honor, according to a decree published in the Official Journal.

Boualem Sansal is the author of around thirty novels, collections of short stories and essays since 1999. He received the grand novel prize from the Académie française in 2015 for “2084. The End of the World” (Gallimard), inspired by George Orwell’s masterpiece “1984”, tied with the Franco-Tunisian writer Hédi Kaddour. He is also the author of “Rue Darwin”, “Village de l’Allemand” and “Vivre”.

His incarceration had aggravated a quarrel between Paris and Algiers triggered in July 2024 when France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.