An Algerian court has sentenced Boualem Sansal, an 80-year-old French-Algerian writer, to five years in prison on charges of undermining the country’s territorial integrity. The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, has sparked widespread condemnation from international literary figures, human rights activists, and political leaders.
Sansal was arrested last year following an interview with a far-right French media outlet, where he claimed that during the colonial era, France had given “too much land to Algeria and too little to Morocco.” He also stated that the disputed Western Sahara region historically belonged to Morocco—an assertion that contradicts Algeria’s support for the Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
Since his detention, the elderly writer has been hospitalized several times due to deteriorating health. His imprisonment has intensified diplomatic strains between Algeria and France, with French President Emmanuel Macron previously calling for his release.
“Boualem Sansal’s arbitrary detention, combined with his worrying health condition, is one of the key issues that must be resolved before trust between our countries can be fully restored,” Macron said in February.
Sansal’s supporters argue that he has unwillingly become a pawn in the fragile relations between Algiers and Paris. The two nations have been at odds for years, but tensions escalated last year when France backed Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara. In response, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to Paris. Three years earlier, Algeria had severed diplomatic ties with Morocco.
Prominent intellectuals, including Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, have condemned the court’s decision, calling it an attack on free speech. Meanwhile, Sansal’s lawyer has urged Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show “humanity” by granting clemency to the aging writer.
A vocal critic of the Algerian government and Islamist movements, Sansal has often been a polarizing figure. His critics accuse him of pandering to the far-right, with French nationalist leader Marine Le Pen praising him as a “fighter for liberty.”
Sansal’s literary work has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix of the Francophonie from the French Academy for his dystopian novel 2084, a satire on religious radicalism. His upcoming novel, Vivre, set for release in May, imagines a select group of humans chosen to colonize a new planet as Earth faces an apocalyptic future.
His imprisonment is expected to further strain Algeria’s already tense relationship with Western nations, as calls for his release grow louder.
