Algeria sentences French sports journalist sentenced to seven years' imprisonment
He was detained a few days later in Tizi Ouzou and for the last 13 months has been under a form of limited freedom, unable to leave the country and obliged to report regularly to police.Under advice from French diplomats, his family and fellow journalists kept his plight under wraps pending the result of the trial."The imprisonment of a journalist for carrying out his profession is a red line that must never be crossed. Christophe Gleizes must be given back his freedom, his family and his writing," journalists' representatives from around 40 different French media said in a statement."Nothing can justify the ordeal that Christophe is going through now," his family said. "In all his writing he showed a passionate interest in the lives of African footballers. Is this his reward?"Gleizes's case recalls that of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been in jail since being arrested at Algiers airport in November last year.On Tuesday an appeals court in Algiers confirmed the five-year prison sentence handed down in March, after Sansal's conviction for breaking state security laws.The writer, who is 80 and suffers from cancer, was found to have "threatened national unity" in an interview he gave to a rightwing French website in which he questioned the official Algerian account of its pre-independence history.Following the appeals court sentence, French prime minister Francois Bayrou expressed the hope that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune would use the occasion of Algeria's 63rd independence anniversary on Saturday to grant a pardon to Sansal.On the Gleizes case, the foreign ministry in Paris said Tuesday it "regretted the heavy sentence" imposed on the journalist, but fell short of calling for his release.Relations between the two countries have been on a knife-edge for the last year, since President Emmanuel Macron appeared to shift France's position on north Africa towards greater support for Algeria's historic rival Morocco.Since then there has been a series of diplomatic rows, with tit-for-tat expulsions and a breakdown of cooperation over extradition and visas.Supporters of Sansal say he is in effect a hostage, and is being used by the Algerian government to put pressure on Paris.Algeria says he was convicted following due process of the law.Gleizes's employer Franck Annese, founder of So Press media group, described him as a "super guy, enthusiastic, willing, and full of humour.""He has absolutely no political axe to grind. His interviews and articles prove it."According to Mr Annese, Gleizes "fell in love" with African football when he investigated the death in 2014 of Albert Ebossé, a Cameroonian forward who died after being struck on the head by a projectile while playing for JSK.This led to his co-authoring a book – Magic System: Modern Slavery of African footballers – which strongly criticised the agents who "exploit the confidence and dreams of these young players."According to the campaigning group Reporters without Borders (RSF), in researching his article on JSK Gleizes had contacted an exiled Kabyle opposition figure who was once an influential figure at the football club.This person is now leader of the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), RSF said.In 2021 MAK was proscribed as terrorist by the Algerian government. Gleizes's supporters contend that two of the journalist's three exchanges with the opposition figure took place before the MAK was banned; and that all the exchanges concerned football, not politics.
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BBC News
01-07-2025
- BBC News
Algeria sentences French sports journalist sentenced to seven years' imprisonment
French journalists' unions on Tuesday called on Algeria to release a French football writer who has been jailed for seven years for supporting Gleizes, who is 36, was sentenced on Sunday, after being found guilty of holding exchanges with a proponent of self-determination for Algeria's Kabyle journalist, who specialises in African football for the Paris-based So Foot magazine, travelled to Algeria in May 2024 for an article on the well-known club JSK (Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie) based in Tizi Ouzou, some 100km (62 miles) from the capital Algiers. He was detained a few days later in Tizi Ouzou and for the last 13 months has been under a form of limited freedom, unable to leave the country and obliged to report regularly to advice from French diplomats, his family and fellow journalists kept his plight under wraps pending the result of the trial."The imprisonment of a journalist for carrying out his profession is a red line that must never be crossed. Christophe Gleizes must be given back his freedom, his family and his writing," journalists' representatives from around 40 different French media said in a statement."Nothing can justify the ordeal that Christophe is going through now," his family said. "In all his writing he showed a passionate interest in the lives of African footballers. Is this his reward?"Gleizes's case recalls that of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been in jail since being arrested at Algiers airport in November last Tuesday an appeals court in Algiers confirmed the five-year prison sentence handed down in March, after Sansal's conviction for breaking state security writer, who is 80 and suffers from cancer, was found to have "threatened national unity" in an interview he gave to a rightwing French website in which he questioned the official Algerian account of its pre-independence the appeals court sentence, French prime minister Francois Bayrou expressed the hope that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune would use the occasion of Algeria's 63rd independence anniversary on Saturday to grant a pardon to the Gleizes case, the foreign ministry in Paris said Tuesday it "regretted the heavy sentence" imposed on the journalist, but fell short of calling for his between the two countries have been on a knife-edge for the last year, since President Emmanuel Macron appeared to shift France's position on north Africa towards greater support for Algeria's historic rival then there has been a series of diplomatic rows, with tit-for-tat expulsions and a breakdown of cooperation over extradition and of Sansal say he is in effect a hostage, and is being used by the Algerian government to put pressure on says he was convicted following due process of the employer Franck Annese, founder of So Press media group, described him as a "super guy, enthusiastic, willing, and full of humour.""He has absolutely no political axe to grind. His interviews and articles prove it."According to Mr Annese, Gleizes "fell in love" with African football when he investigated the death in 2014 of Albert Ebossé, a Cameroonian forward who died after being struck on the head by a projectile while playing for led to his co-authoring a book – Magic System: Modern Slavery of African footballers – which strongly criticised the agents who "exploit the confidence and dreams of these young players."According to the campaigning group Reporters without Borders (RSF), in researching his article on JSK Gleizes had contacted an exiled Kabyle opposition figure who was once an influential figure at the football person is now leader of the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), RSF 2021 MAK was proscribed as terrorist by the Algerian government. Gleizes's supporters contend that two of the journalist's three exchanges with the opposition figure took place before the MAK was banned; and that all the exchanges concerned football, not politics.
Reuters
01-07-2025
- Reuters
Algerian court upholds five-year jail term for French-Algerian writer
TUNIS, July 1 (Reuters) - An Algerian court upheld on Tuesday a five-year prison sentence being served by French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal for undermining national unity, Ennahar TV said, prompting a call for clemency by France. Sansal, 80, had been living in France but was detained while visiting Algeria in November and sentenced in March after making statements to a French media outlet in which he endorsed Morocco's position that part of its territory was seized under French colonialism and annexed to Algeria. Sansal denied the charges. He said his statements were made within the framework of freedom of expression and that he had no intention of offending Algeria. "France regrets the appeal court's decision to impose a prison sentence on our compatriot Boualem Sansal, which maintains the sentence handed down by the lower court", the French Foreign Ministry said. It said France urged the Algerian authorities to show clemency and find a swift, humanitarian and dignified solution to the situation of our compatriot, taking into account his state of health and humanitarian considerations. French President Emmanuel Macron had called for Sandal's release after he was sentenced in March. Ties between Paris and Algiers have deteriorated since France recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Algiers' refusal to take back those deported by French authorities and Sansal's detention have exacerbated tensions, with each side expelling some of the other's diplomats.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- The Independent
Algerian court upholds writer's 5-year sentence in a case that's strained ties with France
A court in Algeria on Tuesday upheld Franco- Algerian author Boualem Sansal's five-year prison sentence in a case that has raised alarm over freedom of expression in Algeria and pushed tensions with France to the brink. Prosecutors at an appeal hearing last week requested the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The '2084: The End of the World' author was charged in March under Algeria's anti-terrorism laws and convicted of 'undermining national unity,' receiving his initial five-year sentence then. Sansal's appeal was closely watched in both France and Algeria. It caps a saga that has turned the novelist into a unlikely cause célèbre, uniting francophone writers, members of France's far right and European lawmakers in a rare chorus demanding his release. The issue arose last year when, in an interview with a French right-wing media outlet, Sansal questioned Algeria's current borders, arguing that France had redrawn them during the colonial period to include lands that once belonged to Morocco. The 80-year-old dual citizen was arrested the following month and later lambasted by the president in a speech to Algeria's parliament. The case has unfolded at a historic low point in Algeria's relations with France, which were strained further over the disputed Western Sahara. The territorial dispute has long helped shape Algeria's foreign policy, with its backing of the Polisario Front, a pro-independence group that operates out of refugee camps in southwestern Algeria. France last year shifted its longstanding position to back Morocco's sovereignty plan. Analysts say that Sansal has become collateral damage in the broader diplomatic fallout and describe the charges as a political lever Algiers is deploying against Paris. Sansal's supporters hope military-backed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will grant a pardon on Saturday, when Algeria marks Independence Day and traditionally frees selected prisoners as part of a national amnesty. The timing is dire, supporters warn, as Sansal battles prostate cancer and has spent part of his detention in a prison hospital. The case has split opinion in Algeria, where many see no place for writers in prison, while others view Sansal's comments about the country's borders as a provocation and an affront to their patriotism. French officials have urged Algeria to release him, with President Emmanuel Macron appealing directly to Tebboune to pardon Sansal during a March phone call, citing the writer's age and failing health as reason for mercy.
