Relatives of Boualem Sansal worried about a possible arrest of the writer in Algeria

His publishers and his entourage in France have not heard from the author of “2084: the end of the world”, while the French embassy and consulate in Algiers are also seeking to clarify his situation.

Novelist and essayist censored in Algeria for his writings which are very critical of the power in place, at 75 years old, Boualem Sansal travels regularly between Algeria and France, whose nationality he recently obtained and where he is based, in due to his wife's health. The black beast of Algerian power, he is on the other hand appreciated by the Algerians and has so far not been worried by the authorities.

The writer left Paris on Saturday November 16 and since then his publisher and his relatives have had no news, his cell phone no longer responding. Arnaud Benedetti, editor-in-chief of the Political and Parliamentary Review to which Boualem Sansal collaborates, wrote on X: “According to several sources, he was arrested. If this information is confirmed, France must react”.

The magazine Marianne argues that the writer Boualem Sansal was “arrested by the police and imprisoned by the regime”. In the absence of information, the Elysée and the Quai d'Orsay should not fail to ask Algiers for clarification.

This episode comes at a time when relations are increasingly tense between Paris and Algiers, notably following the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Since he launched into literature in 1999, Boualem Sansal has displayed his freedom of thought, whether against Algerian power or religious fundamentalism. From the outset, he met with success with The Barbarian Oatha novel chronicling the rise of fundamentalists that helped plunge Algeria into a decade of civil war.

His work, which also includes The German's village, Rue Darwin et 2084, the end of the world is celebrated by numerous literary prizes, particularly in France and Germany. In 2021, Boualem Sansal received the Mediterranean Prize pour Abraham or the Fifth Covenanta “parable on the power and weaknesses of religious thought” published by Gallimard.