Emmanuel Macron is “very concerned by the disappearance” of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal who, according to several media, was arrested in Algeria, the head of state’s entourage said Thursday, November 21. “State services are mobilized to clarify his situation,” it was specified, adding that “the President of the Republic expresses his unwavering attachment to the freedom of a great writer and intellectual.”
The 75-year-old author, who obtained French nationality this year, was arrested on Saturday at Algiers airport, coming from France, several French media reported. The reasons for his arrest are not known. According to the weekly Mariannehe “no longer gave any news to his loved ones since his arrival in Algiers”.
Several French political leaders, especially belonging to the right and center-right, have also expressed their concern and support for the writer, known for his freedom of thought, whether against the Algerian power or religious fundamentalism, since that he launched into literature in 1999. “He embodies everything we cherish: the call to reason, freedom and humanism against censorship, corruption and Islamism”, launched the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on
“All means of pressure on Algeria must be activated to obtain the release of our compatriot, the great writer Boualem Sansal,” added the leader of the LR deputies (Republicans, right) Laurent Wauquiez. The leader of the National Rally (RN) deputies Marine Le Pen asked the French government to “act to obtain his immediate release”, hailing Boualem Sansal as a “freedom fighter and courageous opponent of Islamism”.
“Imprudence”
Boualem Sansal found success from the start with “The Oath of the Barbarians”, a novel recounting the rise of fundamentalists who helped plunge his country into a civil war that left at least 200,000 dead between 1992 and 2002. His books, published in France, are sold freely in Algeria but the author is controversial there, particularly since a visit to Israel in 2014.
Another Franco-Algerian writer, Kamel Daoud, Goncourt 2024 for “Houris”, is at the heart of a controversy in Algeria, accused by a victim of the civil war of having exploited his story. “Kamel Daoud is the subject of violent defamatory campaigns orchestrated by certain media close to a regime whose nature no one is ignorant of,” denounced Monday the director of his publishing house, Gallimard, who was banned from participate in the Algiers International Book Fair. Kamel Daoud took up his pen Thursday evening in Le Figaro. “I very much hope that my friend Boualem will return among us very soon,” he said in a forum, while confiding his incomprehension in the face of the “imprudence” which, according to him, Boualem Sansal would have shown by surrendering in Algeria.
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. Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is de facto controlled mainly by Morocco. But it is claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who are demanding a self-determination referendum and are supported by Algiers.