Boualem Sansal: Franco-Algerian writer sentenced on appeal to five years in prison

The Algiers Court of Appeal upheld, on Tuesday, July 1, Boualem Sansal's five-year prison sentence, notably for "undermining national unity."

The Franco-Algerian writer was accused of endangering state security for defending the Moroccan position that the country's territory was truncated during French colonization for the benefit of Algeria, in an interview with the far-right media outlet Frontières .

At the end of his trial at first instance on March 27, the 80-year-old writer was found guilty of "attacking national unity" and was already sentenced to five years in prison .

Even though he has cancer, the author of 2084: The End of the World will have to remain in custody to serve his sentence. His only chance of escaping prison after this appeal would be to benefit from a presidential pardon from Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

This is what François Bayrou said he hoped after the verdict was announced. "The situation that Boualem Sansal is going through is one that all French people and the French government rightly find unbearable. Now that there has been a conviction, we can imagine that clemency measures, particularly based on the health of our compatriot, will be taken," the Prime Minister declared. Before adding: "I know that all executive bodies, from the President of the Republic to the government, are acting in this direction so that humanity triumphs."

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau , who had defended a "graduated response" towards Algeria in this affair, affirmed alongside François Bayrou that he did not want to "waste any chance, particularly between now and the end of the week, for Boualem Sansal to be released" .

"France calls on the Algerian authorities to show clemency and to find a rapid, humanitarian and dignified solution to the situation of our compatriot, taking into account his state of health and humanitarian considerations. We hope that he can be released and treated," the Quai d'Orsay announced in a statement.

This affair has exacerbated a falling-out between Paris and Algiers, triggered in July 2024 by France's recognition of an autonomy plan "under Moroccan sovereignty" for Western Sahara , a territory that Morocco and the Polisario separatists, supported by Algiers, have been fighting over for fifty years.

• Algeria
• Literature
• France-Africa relations
• Justice