{"id":2030,"date":"2025-11-13T20:47:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2030"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:47:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:47:38","slug":"algerias-president-pardons-jailed-writer-boualem-sansal-freedom-of-the-press-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2030","title":{"rendered":"Algeria\u2019s president pardons jailed writer Boualem Sansal | Freedom of the Press News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The pardon of the 81-year-old author comes after Germany appealed for his release on \u2018humanitarian grounds\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 12 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">12 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Algeria has agreed to pardon French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been detained for a year on charges of \u201cundermining national unity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Algeria\u2019s presidency announced plans to free the 81-year-old writer on Wednesday, saying President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had accepted a request from his German counterpart to pardon him on \u201chumanitarian grounds\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Sansal, a prize-winning author in francophone North African literature, is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities.<\/p>\n<p>He was arrested last November after giving an interview in which he said that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period from 1830 to 1962 \u2013 a claim Algeria views as a challenge to its sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Sansal was sentenced to five years\u2019 imprisonment under \u201canti-terrorism\u201d laws. He has slammed the case against him as senseless, arguing Algeria\u2019s constitution \u201cguarantees freedom of expression and conscience\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>When questioned about his writings during a court session in June, Sansal asked: \u201cAre we holding a trial over literature? Where are we headed?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sansal-s-daughter-expresses-relief\">Sansal\u2019s daughter expresses relief<\/h2>\n<p>Sansal\u2019s case has soured relations between Algeria and France, which nosedived last summer when France shifted its position to recognise Morocco\u2019s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory, and which were further aggravated when Algeria rejected French attempts to return Algerians slated for deportation.<\/p>\n<p>While France had urged for leniency in Sansal\u2019s case, Algeria was more responsive to the intervention from Germany, whose President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to his \u201clongstanding personal relationship\u201d with Tebboune in issuing the pardon request.<\/p>\n<p>Sansal\u2019s daughter Sabeha Sansal told the AFP news agency that she was relieved following the pardon and hoped to see her father soon.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"crackdown-on-dissent\">Crackdown on dissent<\/h2>\n<p>Human rights advocates in Algeria claim the country has used the controversial \u201canti-terrorism\u201d law employed in Sansa\u2019s case to stifle dissent following the 2019 pro-democracy Hirak protests.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Algerian poet and activist Mohamed Tadjadit \u2013 who rose to prominence for his public recitations during the Hirak demonstrations \u2013 was jailed for five years on charges including \u201ccondoning terrorism\u201d. About 20 NGOs, including Amnesty International, have denounced the allegations against him as \u201cbaseless\u201d and called for his release.<\/p>\n<p>Also imprisoned in Algeria is French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who was found guilty in June for \u201cglorifying terrorism\u201d after he allegedly communicated with an official of a football club in the Kabyle region who also heads a banned Kabyle nationalist group, according to France\u2019s Le Monde newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>Press freedoms group Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of Gleizes ahead of his appeals trial in December, saying he is \u201cguilty only of practising his profession as a sports journalist and of loving Algerian football\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pardon of the 81-year-old author comes after Germany appealed for his release on \u2018humanitarian grounds\u2019. Published On 12 Nov 202512 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Algeria has agreed to pardon French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been detained for a year on charges of \u201cundermining national unity\u201d. Algeria\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}