Boualem Sansal

Algeria court upholds writer Sansal's five-year jail term

An Algerian court on Tuesday upheld a five-year prison sentence against dual-national author Boualem Sansal, whose case has strained ties with France. Sansal, 80, was first sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria's territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet. The appeals ...

Algerian Court to Rule on Boualem Sansal’s Jail Appeal

An Algerian court is expected to deliver a verdict Tuesday on prosecutors' bid to double the jail term of a dual-national author whose conviction has strained ties with France. Boualem Sansal, 80, was first sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria's territorial integrity over comments made to a ...

Boualem Sansal: A Silenced Voice Honored in Paris

Boualem Sansal, who has been jailed in Algeria for six months, was awarded the international Cino del Duca Prize on Wednesday. The French literary prize honors "the strength of a writer who (...) continues to make their free voice heard." Recognized for his entire body of work, Boualem Sansal joins the ranks of past laureates like Andrei ...

Boualem Sansal’s Speech for Freedom Published in Bookstores

This speech, given for “the German Publishers and Booksellers Peace Prize” and published in Gallimard’s Tracts collection, was originally delivered in Frankfurt, Germany, in October 2011. "The absence of freedom is a pain that drives one mad over time. It reduces a man to his shadow and his dreams to nightmares," Boualem Sansal declares in ...

Boualem Sansal: Five Years in Prison and an Unfolding Diplomatic Crisis

As Paris looked for signs of de-escalation from Algiers, the Dar al-Beïda court delivered its ruling. On Thursday, March 27, 2025, French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 500,000 dinars (approximately €3,470). The sentence falls short of the ten-year term requested by the public prosecutor a week ...

Algeria Summons French Ambassador Over Accusations of Interference

Algeria's foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador to reprimand him for what it described as efforts to destabilize the country, several Algerian media outlets reported on Sunday. The ambassador, Stéphane Romatet, was "informed of the firm disapproval of the highest Algerian authorities in response to numerous French provocations and ...

Alarm in France over fate of prize-winning French-Algerian writer

French President Emmanuel Macron is concerned about the "disappearance" of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, his office said, after reports that the prize-winning novelist had been arrested in Algeria. Sansal, a major figure in francophone modern literature, is known for his strong stances against both authoritarianism and Islamism as well ...