Algeria: A beleaguered regime resorts to blackmail against jailed writer Boualem Sansal
The Algerian beleaguered regime has crossed a new line in abomination in its repressive measures against all dissenting voices. Its latest absurdity showed when it demanded that French writer Boualem Sansal, jailed since November, changes his lawyer by a “non-Jewish” attorney. This outrageous blackmail illustrates, if need be, the reckless drift of the current government.
The increasingly brutal authoritarianism and repression of the regime, under the presidency of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was evidenced again in the recent case of writer Boualem Sansal, who has been thrown in prison upon landing in Algeria last November just because he dared to tell truths about the regime.
As put by Le Monde daily, his arrest is linked to comments he made in an interview with the French media “Frontières,” where he supported Morocco’s position on the historical border issue between the two countries during French colonization.
French-Algerian Sansal’s imprisonment has sparked protests among many activists, intellectuals, writers and even french President Emmanuel Macron who all consider the charges against him to be unfounded and who called for his release, but the calls fell in deaf ears in Algeria.
Going even farther, the Algerian government imposed an unspeakable choice: Sansal must abandon his current lawyer, Me François Zimeray, because he is Jewish, and hire another “non-Jewish” lawyer if he hopes for any improvement in his situation. This senseless demand, reminiscent of a bygone era, reveals the regime’s obsessive, pathological approach to discrimination and absolute control, as noted by analysts.
The case of Boualem Sansal is far from isolated. The Algerian authorities have never hidden their disdain for fundamental justice principles, imposing absurd rules to mask the regime’s abysmal failure. Unable to offer dignified governance to its people, the regime prefers to divert attention by attacking intellectuals and opponents. The message sent to Sansal is clear: to align with the Algeria of Tebboune, one must conform to the regime’s diktats, including in the choice of one’s defense. Demanding a “non-Jewish” lawyer is not only a blatant violation of human rights but also a demonstration of the government’s regressive ideology.
For the past three months, François Zimeray has been systematically denied a visa to travel to Algeria and assist his client. This blockade clearly reflects a desire to prevent any serious defense for Boualem Sansal, and deprive him of his fundamental right to impartial and free legal assistance.
In the face of the Algerian regime’s unfounded harassment of Boualem Sansal, ten members of the writer’s support committee published an op-ed in French daily Le Figaro, calling on Emmanuel Macron to end the “constant leniency” toward Algeria and to activate diplomatic levers to secure Sansal’s release.
His support committee denounced his arrest as akin to a hostage-taking, motivated by baseless charges, driven by a justice system manipulated by a militarized police state.
Since his arrest, the author of *2084* has been denied not only his lawyer but also any visit from the French Ambassador to Algeria.
The alarm about Sansal’s situation was sounded again on Tuesday during a support evening organized at the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris, in partnership with Gallimard Editions.
“The latest information is not good. Three months is a long time for him, especially when we don’t know if this period could be extended to six months, or even a year,” said Antoine Gallimard.
During the event, François Zimeray revealed that the 80-year-old writer is suffering from cancer, yet this has not shaken the regime’s intransigence.
Boualem Sansal, elderly and sick, is currently in the prison pavilion of the Mustapha Hospital in Algiers, the lawyer said, adding that he believes that his client “is probably receiving appropriate care, but he remains a man weakened by this situation and deprived of his freedom.”
International writers have joined the support for Boualem Sansal, including Italian Roberto Saviano, British author Ian McEwan, and Icelandic Jón Kalman Stefánsson. During the evening, Jack Lang, president of the IMA, expressed his support, stating: “This word freedom, my generation learned it, cultivated it, and forged it through the struggles for Algeria’s independence.” “We are Sansal. You are Sansal.”
“We ask you only not to forget him in the prisons of Algiers,” said Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, the 2024 Goncourt Prize winner.
Journalist Eric Fottorino recalled a statement made by Boualem Sansal in 2015: “They leave me free because I am their guarantee to continue thinking they are a democracy.”
The writer is being prosecuted under Article 87 bis of the Algerian Penal Code, which punishes any “terrorist or subversive” action threatening state security, territorial integrity, or the stability of institutions.