Algeria | Franco-Algerian novelist, dissident Boualem Sansal released from prison after German president's intervention

ALGIERS, Nov. 12 (DPN) — Franco-Algerian novelist and dissident Boualem Sansal was released from prison on Tuesday after a personal intervention by Germany’s president, bringing to an end nearly a year of detention that had strained Algeria’s relations with Europe.

Sansal, 81, a longtime critic of Algeria’s ruling establishment, had been arrested in November 2024 and sentenced to five years in prison on national security charges that human rights organizations denounced as politically motivated. Observers described his trial as arbitrary and lacking due process, with lawyers and family members often denied access during his detention.

According to officials in Algiers, the novelist’s release was granted on humanitarian grounds after a request from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who had urged that Sansal be allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment. Sansal, who suffers from cancer, is expected to receive care in Germany.

The case highlighted divisions in European diplomacy toward Algeria. While French President Emmanuel Macron publicly expressed concern for Sansal’s fate, Paris was criticized for failing to exert real pressure on Algiers. Analysts noted that France, despite its leverage over visas, deportation orders (OQTFs), and immigration restriction, chose not to use those tools to secure Sansal’s freedom.

Ties between France and Algeria have long been uneasy, burdened by the legacy of colonial rule and the war of independence that ended in 1962. Periodic disputes over historical memory, migration, and human rights continue to complicate cooperation between the two countries.

Rights advocates have long accused Algeria’s leadership of silencing dissent through politically driven prosecutions. Sansal’s detention, they say, was emblematic of how the government uses prominent intellectuals as bargaining chips in its dealings with the West.

Literary and free-expression groups across Europe, including PEN International, had campaigned for Sansal’s release, calling his imprisonment part of a broader pattern of repression against writers, journalists, and opposition figures.

In a brief statement following his release, European officials welcomed the decision and urged Algeria to respect freedom of expression.

Despite Tuesday’s development, concerns about press freedom in Algeria persist. At least one French journalist remains in custody there, according to rights monitors, underscoring what advocates describe as a climate of intimidation for independent voices.

Sansal, best known for novels blending political critique with dystopian fiction, had often warned of authoritarian drift in his homeland. His release, while celebrated abroad, leaves unanswered questions about the limits of dissent in Algeria and about France's willingness to defend it.

Source: Death Penalty News, Staff, November 12, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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