The Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, arrested in Algeria “more than a week ago” under unclear conditions, has not yet been interviewed by a prosecutor, announced Monday, November 25, his lawyer François Zimeray, mandated by Gallimard editions. “There was no appearance today,” Mr. Zimeray said in the evening on BFMTV, although he was counting on a hearing in the afternoon. “We will know more tomorrow,” he added on the same microphone, explaining that he was receiving “conflicting information”.
The lawyer had indicated on RTL, earlier in the day, that he had “no specific news” on the state or conditions of detention of the 75-year-old writer, in the fight against religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism. “The best way to confirm what he says is to keep him in prison. So, if Algeria is not a dictatorship, release him,” launched Me Zimeray on BFMTV, estimating that “the risk of life imprisonment is real for (the) type of offense” with which he is accused.
According to The Worldthe Algerian authorities could have taken badly the declarations of Boualem Sansal to the French media Frontières, reputed to be far-right, which take up the Moroccan position according to which the territory of the country would have been truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria. This would be a “red line” for Algiers which could result in the author being accused of “undermining national integrity”. “I am impatiently waiting for an Algerian defense team of colleagues, with whom I will be able to get in touch, to be formed, and that is why I am in contact with the President of the Bar of Algiers,” also declared Mr. Zimeray.
“This must appeal to intellectuals around the world”
Asked on RTL about what he expected from politicians and the French government, the lawyer judged that it was necessary to “avoid doing as much as possible at this stage”. “Some wanted to make Boualem Sansal, and this arrest, the occasion of another irritant in the Franco-Algerian relationship. And the role of his defense today is obviously to do nothing that would in this sense,” he insisted. “It is not only a Franco-Algerian dimension, it must challenge intellectuals from all over the world” and “it must also be an Algerian subject, treated under Algerian law and which challenges Algerian society which deserves better than that,” he said. -he argues.
Also on Monday, the author received the support of the French Academy, which hopes to see him “released without delay”, and from the Overseas Academy of Sciences which “requests that he regain his freedom of movement and expression.
On Friday, the Algerian government agency APS confirmed the “arrest” of the writer, without specifying a date. According to several media, Boualem Sansal was arrested on November 16 at Algiers airport, coming from France. These events take place in a tense diplomatic context between France and Algeria, after Paris’ support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara at the end of July.