As France-Algeria ties sour, supporters of imprisoned writer turn to Europe for help

PARIS — Acclaimed novelist Boualem Sansal is caught in the middle of a diplomatic standoff between France and Algeria.

Sansal, a dual national of both countries and a vocal critic of the Algerian regime, was arrested shortly after stepping off a plane in Algiers in November on charges of undermining national unity. An Algerian court has since convicted and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The case has sparked outrage in France, which accuses the Algerian government of using Sansal, who is suffering from cancer, as a geopolitical pawn. Relations between the two countries began to sour when France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara last summer.

The global literary community has also reacted in horror. Two winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, France’s Annie Ernaux and Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk, have publicly called on Algeria to release Sansal, as has Salman Rushdie.

Sansal’s main support group says the author — who in 2015 was awarded one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Grand prix du roman de Académie Française — has been in and out of hospital since the beginning of the ordeal.

“Sansal is very ill and we don’t know if he has access to a doctor in jail,” said Noëlle Lenoir, a former French government minister serving as the president of the group. “We are very worried because we have very little news about him. We think he’s detained in isolation and deprived of his telephone.”

While France has repeatedly called for the writer’s release, Sansal’s advocates worry Paris’ efforts will fall on deaf ears given the tension between the two countries.

The decision to side with Morocco in the Western Sahara dispute effectively put an end to French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to heal the wounds with Algeria that have festered since the former French colony’s brutal war of independence in the 1950s.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune viewed the move as “a betrayal,” according to a French official who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.

“Since the Western Sahara move, [Tebboune] feels betrayed, duped. So the relationship is going to limp on from crisis to crisis,” the official said. 

The pessimism over France’s ability to effectively lobby on behalf of Sansal has led his supporters to seek help from the European Union, its top diplomat Kaja Kallas and the European External Action Service, which she oversees.

The support group has also filed a complaint with the European ombudsman, which last year opened an investigation into the EU’s partnership with Tunisia over the country’s alleged human rights abuses.

Boualem Sansal’s main support group says the author — who in 2015 was awarded one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Grand prix du roman de Académie Française — has been in and out of hospital since the beginning of the ordeal. | Etienne Laurent/EFE via EPA

Lenoir, the former government minister, wants a similar step taken with respect to Algeria.

“Europe needs to wake up now. The association agreement between the EU and Algeria contains a conditionality clause that is linked to fundamental rights,” Lenoir said, referencing a trade partnership between the EU and Algeria.  

European officials “need to use this leverage,” she said.  

Last month, a group of French and German intellectuals called for Sansal to become a “European cause” in a column published in the French outlet Le Monde.  

But so far neither Kallas nor the European External Action Service, which declined to comment for this story, have made any public comment regarding Sansal. The European Parliament, however, in January overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution demanding that EU institutions call for his liberation. 

Sansal has appealed his conviction and will face a new trial on June 24. While there’s only a slim chance Sansal’s guilty verdict will be overturned, his supporters hope that Tebboune will grant him a presidential pardon.