Algeria: Legal action launched in Paris against Pdt Abdelmadjid Tebboune for “enforced disappearance” of Boualem Sansal

A legal action has been launched in Paris against Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for “enforced disappearance” of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.

The legal proceeding was initiated by a local French association which holds the Algerian presidency accountable for the enforced disappearance, deprivation of liberty, and arbitrary detention of the 75-year-old novelist.

Sansal was arrested at Algiers airport in November after saying, in an interview with a French TV channel, that western territories of today’s Algeria have been part of Morocco. He has been kept in custody despite calls from Paris for his release. The literary figure is facing charges of terrorism and undermining national unity for saying historical truths about the colonial history of Algeria’s borders.

In a speech in late December, President Tebboune called him an “imposture…who does not know his father” sent by France to make such a statement.

Analysts around the world were shocked by the degrading Algerian presidential remarks seen as a violation of the legal principle of presumption of innocence, casting doubts over the fairness of the Algerian judicial system.

Sansal is known for his strong stances against both authoritarianism and Islamism, as well as for being a forthright campaigner on freedom of expression issues.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Algiers was “dishonoring itself” by keeping him behind bars on national security charges.