MEPs were invited to vote this Thursday on an “immediate” release of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. The abstention or vote against this resolution of certain rebels annoys.
All political groups in the European Parliament, from the EPP to “The Left”, including S&D, Renew, Verts/ALE, ECR, Patriotes and even ENS, have united their voices to demand “immediate” and “unconditional” release. ” by the 75-year-old Franco-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, detained in prison by Algeria since mid-November. Objective: to officially condemn his arrest and detention. But if the resolution was adopted, with 533 votes in favor, of the approximately 605 voting MEPs, 48 abstained, while 24 voted against.
Among them, seven French MEPs, compared to 68 who voted for. They come from the group “The Left”, namely the Left in the European Parliament. Thus, the rebels Manon Aubry and Younous Omarjee are among the abstainers, while the rebels Rima Hassan, Arash Saeidi, Anthony Smith and Emma Fourreau preferred to vote against this resolution, relays the HuffPost. A decision which did not fail to offend some of their political opponents.
Reactions on the right, but also on the left
“Today, left-wing elected officials, fortunately in the minority, are choosing to vote against a resolution calling for the release of Boualem Sansal, preferring to act as relays for the Algerian regime which took him hostage, despite his age and state of health. health”, deplores the Republican deputy François-Xavier Bellamy to the Figaro. Recalling that the left, in its history, has long defended the freedom of intellectuals, he attacks: “Once again, LFI deputies definitively disqualify themselves from talking about fundamental rights!” On the left too, some did not hide their anger. Socialist senator Laurence Rossignol notably described the rebels who opposed the European Parliament’s resolution as “the new Stalinists”, reports HuffPost. “Yesterday Alexander Solzhenitsyn [écrivain et célèbre dissident du régime soviétique dans les années 70-80, ndlr.]today Boualem Sansal,” she accused.
In addition to the writer’s case, the European Parliament resolution also aims to condemn more generally the arrests “of all other activists, political prisoners, journalists, human rights defenders and other persons detained or sentenced” by the Algerian regime for having “exercised their right to freedom of opinion and expression”.