French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal handed five-year sentence as diplomatic rift widens
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A court in Algeria on Thursday sentenced an award-winning French-Algerian writer to five years in prison over remarks that questioned the borders dividing Algeria from regional rival Morocco, which prosecutors claimed threatened national security.
The case against 76-year-old Boualem Sansal has become a flashpoint in growing tensions between the Algerian and French governments. Both French President Emmanuel Macron and members of the European Parliament have called for his release.
Sansal had been found guilty under anti-terrorism laws that human rights advocates in Algeria claim have long been used to quash anti-government voices. Charges included undermining national unity, insulting public institutions, actions likely to harm the national economy, and disseminating videos that threaten national stability.
Sansal's five-year sentence is half of what prosecutors requested and less than the recommended for those charged under Article 87 of Algeria's penal code, the controversial anti-terrorism statute implemented after mass protests convulsed the country last decade. He also was fined 500,000 Algerian dinar ($3,734).
France's Foreign Ministry said later Thursday that it was disappointed in the verdict and called for a 'rapid, humanitarian and dignified' resolution to the case.
Sansal's case dates back to last October, when Sansal gave an interview to the right-wing French media outlet, Frontieres. In the interview, he questioned Algeria's current borders, arguing that France had redrawn them during the colonial period to include lands that once belonged to Morocco. He was arrested the following month.
Sansal on Thursday denied the remarks violated any laws or were meant to harm Algeria as prosecutors claim, according to Hociane Amine, a lawyer who was in the courtroom, which was surrounded by heavy police presence.
Amine said that Sansal showed little emotion upon hearing the verdict. Though his sentence was set at five years without parole, lawyers believe there's a chance he may serve less time.
'Obviously, he has a possibility to appeal. And now that he's been sentenced, the president is within his rights to grant him a pardon because it's a political card in the current crisis with France,' Amine said.
Sansal's case has provoked outrage from the European Parliament, civil liberties groups and politicians across the political spectrum in France, particularly on the right. Both far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Macron called for his release, as has the literary association PEN International and French-Algerian novelist Kamel Daoud. They have decried both the charges and Algeria's refusal to grant a visa to Sansal's French lawyer. The writer rejected court-appointed lawyers and chose to defend himself.
Macron last week told reporters in Brussels that he hoped Sansal would soon be released and that he trusted Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune — framing the case in political terms. In a December speech to Algeria's parliament, Tebboune called Sansal 'an impostor who doesn't know his identity, his father and just said that half of Algeria was part of another country.'
Diagnosed with cancer, Sansal has awaited a verdict in a hospital prison ward. Commentators in France have for months described the charges as a political lever Algiers is deploying against Paris.
Relations between the two countries sharply deteriorated last summer when France shifted its position to support Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algiers and is based in refugee camps in southeastern Algeria.
The rift has grown since. A planned visit by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Paris never occurred. Algeria has rejected France's attempts to return Algerians slated for deportation and imposed new restrictions on French companies operating in the country.
In addition to souring relations with France, Sansal's arrest also comes in a context of heightened censorship in Algeria. Since pro-democracy protestors forced the military to oust longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019, authorities have clamped down on dissent. Hundreds — including journalists, activists, poets and lawyers — have been detained or imprisoned in the years since for speech-related offenses, according to Amnesty International and Algeria's National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees.
Before his October arrest, Sansal's work faced bans from Algerian authorities but he regularly travelled between Paris and Algiers without issue. His works — 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 critiques Algeria's post-revolution leaders and the role of Islam in society. Under the imprint of the prestigious French publishing house Gallimard, he has published ten novels, including '2084: The End of the World' which won the France's Grand Prix du Roman in 2015.
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