Algerian court upholds writer's 5-year sentence in a case that's strained relations with France
The ruling denies a request made by prosecutors at an appeal hearing last week. They asked a judge to give Sansal 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.
Before his arrest, Sansal's work faced bans from Algerian authorities but he regularly traveled between Paris and Algiers without issue. His books — written in French — are little read in Algeria.
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 angered Algeria last year shifted its longstanding position to back regional rival 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.
'Now that a verdict has been handed down, we can imagine that clemency measures may be taken, especially because of our compatriot's health,' French Prime Minister François Bayrou told reporters on Tuesday.
France's Foreign Ministry said it 'deplores' the decision to sentence Sansal to prison.
'This decision is both incomprehensible and unjustified,' it said in a statement.
The timing is dire, Sansal's supporters in France and Algeria warn, as he battles prostate cancer and has spent part of his detention in a prison hospital. He appeared in court on Tuesday looking frail and without his trademark ponytail.
Before his arrest, Sansal's work faced bans from Algerian authorities but he regularly traveled between Paris and Algiers without issue. His books — written in French — are little read in Algeria.
However, he has amassed a large following in France for books and essays in which he regularly criticizes Algeria's leaders after 1962, when it won independence from French colonial rule, and the role of Islam in society.
Under the imprint of the prestigious French publishing house Gallimard, he has published 10 novels and won a prize for the best novel of the year, the Grand Prix du Roman, in 2015.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
20 hours ago
- Arab News
NGOs caught between juntas and militants in turbulent Sahel
ABIDJAN: NGOs in the violence-wracked Sahel region are dangerously caught between military juntas who accuse them of being spies, and militants who view them as symbols of Western influence. In the world terror epicenter, nearly 30 million people rely on humanitarian aid provided by non-governmental organizations and international bodies. 'The need is mostly concentrated in the central Sahel' in junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger where assistance is critical to nearly 15 million people, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA. Since seizing power, the juntas have made sovereignty and the fight against militants their priority, leaving NGOs and organizations that receive funding from abroad under increased pressure. In Burkina Faso, 21 NGOs had their permits to operate in the country revoked in the space of just one month between June and July, for what the authorities said were administrative reasons. Ten other associations were suspended for three months. 'It's a tough blow but we are working to comply with legal requirements. For now, our activities are suspended,' a member of one of the associations said. In neighboring Mali, NGOs financed or supported by former colonial power France, with whom the junta has cut ties, have been suspended since 2022. The military-led authorities also plan to impose a 10-percent levy on funding for NGOs and associations to use for Mali's 'economic, social, environmental and cultural development,' according to a draft law seen by AFP. Niger's junta has ordered NGOs to align their activities with its priorities, which it says are bolstering security, developing production centers to boost the economy and promoting good governance. In November, it withdrew the operating licenses for French aid group Acted and a local association, Action for Wellbeing (ABPE). Interior Minister General Mohamed Toumba declared two months later that 'many NGOs' in Niger were carrying out 'subversion missions' through 'support they often provide to terrorists.' Then in February, the International Committee of the Red Cross was ordered to leave the west African country, where it had worked since 1990, accused of 'collusion with terrorists.' As they come under pressure from the juntas, NGOs must also contend with attacks by militant groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Daesh group, who see them as a threat to their power and ideology. The Sahel region was the epicenter of global 'terrorism' for the second straight year in 2024, accounting for more than half of deaths put down to terror attacks worldwide, according to the Global Terrorism Index. At least 26 humanitarian workers were killed in the Sahel last year and many more wounded and kidnapped in 116 security incidents, OCHA said. 'Our operations are now limited to a few cities. To transport staff or supplies, for example, we prefer air transport, which generates extra costs at a time when we are struggling to mobilize resources,' a Burkinabe humanitarian worker, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said. 'Many NGOs are now present on the ground thanks to their local staff, which minimizes risks,' a Nigerien NGO worker said. In October, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stopped working in the large northern Burkinabe town of Djibo, which is surrounded by militants, following attacks targeting its health centers and offices. A few years earlier the medical charity had been forced to leave the southeast Nigerien town of Maine Soroa near the border with Nigeria due to raids by Boko Haram militants in August 2020. 'NGOs are targeted because extremist groups are seeking to establish themselves as legitimate alternative authorities,' said Charlie Werb, an analyst at risk advisory company Alert:24. 'They want to supplant the state, which means not only pushing out the state itself from territory, but also organizations deemed to be providing services on its behalf,' he said. The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic initials JNIM, an Islamist outfit affiliated with Al-Qaeda that is active in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, 'has stated that it will only allow NGOs to operate in areas under its control so long as they don't carry out activity that goes against their religious principles,' Werb said. NGOs have had armed escorts imposed on them by the juntas purportedly to ensure their safety, but humanitarian workers believe the move is mostly designed to keep track of their activities. 'Conducting our activities under military escort can hinder our actions and expose us to one of the belligerents,' the Burkinabe aid worker said.
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Gaza student leaves for France over antisemitic posts row
A student from Gaza who had been studying in France on a scholarship left for Qatar Sunday, ordered out over anti-Semitic comments found on her social media accounts, the foreign ministry said. Foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot 'stressed the unacceptable nature of the comments made by Ms. Nour Attaalah, a Gazan student, before she entered French territory,' said the ministry statement. 'Given their seriousness, Ms. Attaalah could not remain on French territory. She left France today to go to Qatar to continue her studies there,' it added. The young woman, who received a student visa and a government scholarship as part of a program for Gazan students, had been due to join Sciences Po Lille in the fall. She arrived in France on July 11, according to a French diplomatic source. But social media posts from the past two years calling for the killing of Jews, since deleted, were discovered. That led to a judicial investigation for condoning terrorism, and an inquiry to determine why the posts had not been detected in advance. AFP was unable to confirm the screen shots attributed to her by internet users and media outlets, but Sciences Po Lille said Wednesday that her social media comments had been confirmed, without elaborating. Barrot said Friday that France was freezing all its student evacuation programs from Gaza pending the outcome of the investigation into how the posts had been missed. The foreign ministry would not say how many students have been affected, citing privacy reasons. France has allowed in several hundred students from Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and the Hamas movement.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Macron slams ‘abject cruelty' of Hamas hostage video
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that Hamas showed 'inhumanity without bounds' by releasing videos of two emaciated Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza. Hamas and its Islamic Jihad ally have recently released three clips showing captives Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, who were seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war. 'Abject cruelty, inhumanity without bounds: this is what Hamas represents,' said the French head of state of the 'unbearable images.' 'The absolute priority for France is the immediate release of all the hostages,' he added on X. In the footage shared by the Palestinian groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished. The footage of David showed him digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave, triggering particular outrage. Macron, who has said France will recognize a Palestinian state in September, promised to 'work without respite' for 'the re-establishment without delay of a ceasefire, and to allow the mass delivery of humanitarian aid, still blocked at the gates of Gaza.' But he also argued that Hamas must have no part ruling coastal strip once the war ends. 'We must have the total demilitarization of Hamas, its complete exclusion from any form of governance and the recognition of Israel by the state of Palestine,' he said. Besides Macron, the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also condemned the videos as showing Hamas' 'barbarity,' insisting the militants disarm and release the dozens of hostages it still keeps in captivity. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha added his voice to the outrage, insisting that 'Hamas' inhuman treatment of the Israeli hostages deserves a very strong condemnation.' 'People in Gaza should not remain suffering because of Hamas' heinous crimes. It must lay down its arms and release all hostages immediately,' Sybiha added on X. Braslavski and David are among 49 hostages taken during Hamas' 2023 attack still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack have been released, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. Hamas' 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers those figures to be reliable.
