02-04-2025
Boualem Sansal Appeals Five-Year Prison Sentence in Algeria
Rabat – Boualem Sansal has challenged his five-year prison sentence in Algeria, his lawyer in France, François Zimeray, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday.
The 80-year-old French-Algerian writer, arrested in mid-November, remains at the center of growing diplomatic tensions.
Zimeray stressed that filing an appeal does not rule out the possibility of a pardon. 'Under Article 91 of the Algerian Constitution, an appeal does not stand in the way of a presidential pardon,' he said. He also suggested that if a humanitarian release became an option, he would advise Sansal to withdraw the appeal.
His remarks followed a phone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, two days earlier. The two leaders, seeking to repair strained ties, discussed Sansal's case along with plans to revive security and migration cooperation.
Sansal's sentencing on March 27 by a court in Dar El Beida, near Algiers, came against a backdrop of heightened political tensions.
The charges stem from statements he made to the French publication Frontières, where he suggested that Algeria had acquired Moroccan land during the colonial era.
His arrest deepened the diplomatic rift between Paris and Algiers, already fragile since France recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in July 2024.
Algeria, a staunch supporter of the separatist group the Polisario Front, reacted sharply to the shift in French policy.
Zimeray, acting on behalf of Sansal's French publisher Gallimard, had repeatedly sought permission to assist in the writer's legal defense but was never granted an Algerian visa. He continues to insist on his client's innocence, calling the charges of endangering state security unfounded.
Despite the political tensions surrounding the case, recent diplomatic exchanges signal an attempt at rapprochement. But does this seemingly positive development mean that France and Algeria mean that Sansal's fate will be decided by legal arguments or by political calculations? Tags: Boualem Sansalfrance sansalFreedom of speechsansal
