The Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, arrested in mid-November in Algeria, was questioned by the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Algiers and was placed under a committal warrant, his lawyer François Zimeray announced this Tuesday, November 26 in a press release sent to the AFP.
Boualem Sansal, “who had gone to Algiers in confidence, is today placed in detention under article 87 bis of the Algerian penal code which punishes all attacks on state security”, said writes Me Zimeray. “The deprivation of liberty of an 80-year-old writer because of his writings is a serious act,” observed the lawyer. “Whatever the wounds invoked and the sensitivities offended, they are inseparable from the very idea of freedom, dearly won in Algeria; there is a manifest disproportion here, the scope of which the authors have probably not measured,” a- he added again. “If there must be an investigation, this in no way justifies the extension of the detention of Boualem Sansal,” commented François Zimeray.
Boualem Sansal, who has criticized Algerian leaders on numerous occasions, was arrested in mid-November as he arrived in his native country from France. The Algerian government agency APS confirmed on Friday, without specifying the date or for what reasons, the “arrest” at Algiers airport of the author of “2084: the end of the world”. According to several media, it took place on November 16.
The Minister Delegate in charge of French people abroad Sophie Primas, questioned Tuesday in the National Assembly on the possibility of sanctioning Algerian leaders in this affair, had asked for “discretion”. “At this stage, I cannot tell you more. Because yes, diplomacy needs discretion to act, and not to remain silent,” she said. “State services are fully mobilized to monitor the situation of our compatriot and enable him to benefit from the consular protection provided for by law,” the minister further underlined.