A court in Algeria has sentenced the writer Franco-Argelino Boalem Sansal, arrested in November 2024 on Thursday and charged with “attack against the National Unity” and “Publications against the security and stability of the country”, among other positions.
According to the information collected by the newspaper Algerino ‘El Khabar’, the writer has also been sentenced to the payment of a fine of 500,000 Dinares (about 3,465 euros). The Prosecutor’s Office of Algeria had claimed a sentence of ten years in prison against Sansal last week.
The Galo President, Emmanuel Macron, has publicly provided his support for Sansal, “a great writer”, already his family after the sentence, who hopes to give rise to “clear” decisions by the Algerian authorities.
In this sense, he has appealed to “common sense” and the “humanity” of Algeria so that Sansal can “be a free man” and improve his health problems, during a press conference after the meeting of leaders on Ukraine held this Thursday in Paris.
Also a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry has said “regret” the condemnation against “compatriot Boalem Sansal”. “We reiterate our call to a quick, humanitarian and dignified solution to this situation,” said the Algerian authorities having pronounced on the ruling.
The open case against him derives from his arrest at the Algiers airport after the publication of an interview granted to a French medium of ultra -right -wing trend in which he said that Paris gave Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era, words considered by Algiers as an affront to his national sovereignty.
Sansal, a known opponent of the Algerian Government, was arrested on November 21 by members of the General Directorate of Internal Security of Algeria (DGSI) upon his return to the African country from France, which caused a wave of criticism by the French authorities, in full deterioration of bilateral relations.