Algeria sentences French football journalist to seven years in jail
Algeria 's authorities have sentenced a prominent French sports journalist specialised in African football to seven years in prison for "glorifying terrorism", media rights campaigners RSF said Sunday, denouncing the verdict as "nonsensical".
Christophe Gleizes, 36, who contributes to the So Foot magazine, was ordered by the court in Tizi Ouzou to be immediately incarcerated and will appeal the ruling on Monday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.
"He has now been unjustly convicted and imprisoned for simply doing his job," said the group.
Gleizes, who has co-authored a book about football in Africa, was arrested in May 2024 and then placed under judicial control and was unable to leave the country, RSF said.
"Christophe Gleizes has been subjected to an absurd judicial control order for over a year," said Thibaut Bruttin, RSF's director general.
"His seven-year sentence is nonsensical and demonstrates one thing: today, nothing escapes politics," he added.
Gleizes travelled to the country and Tizi Ouzou to write about the local football club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie, named after Algeria's Kabylia region, home to the Berber Kabyle people.
"We are in shock," his family said in a statement shared by RSF.
"There is no justification for Christophe having to endure this ordeal. How can one justify punishing a journalist for practising his profession with integrity?"
'In shock'
As well as "glorifying terrorism", he was convicted of "possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests", RSF said.
It said Gleizes had 2015 and 2017 been in touch with a Tizi Ouzou football figure prominent in the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), designated a "terrorist" organisation by the Algerian authorities in 2021.
"The first two interactions between Christophe Gleizes and this individual occurred well before this designation," it said adding he had also not concealed contacting the person again in 2024 as part of preparations for the report.
"Imprisoned for doing his job!" said So Foot. "His loved ones and editorial team are in shock," it added.
The jailing of Gleizes comes at a time of growing tension between Algeria and former colonial master France.
Algeria arrested and jailed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November on national security charges and has defied calls from President Emmanuel Macron for his release.
Macron angered Algiers in July 2024 when he backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front.
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