Death Penalty News

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.

The 81-year-old Franco-Algerian writer’s imprisonment exposes both the brutality of Algiers and the moral cowardice of Paris. PARIS — Boualem Sansal has spent his life fighting for the right to speak freely. Today, at 81, suffering from cancer, he is paying the price for that courage — imprisoned in Algeria after a sham trial, condemned for doing what he has always done: telling the truth about power. In March 2025 , an Algerian court sentenced the Franco-Algerian writer to five years in prison for “undermining national unity” and “attacking state security.” His crime was to speak — calmly and publicly — about the legacy of Algeria’s authoritarianism and the suffocating control its rulers still exert over public life. For that, he was seized, tried without due process, and locked away.