Serious concerns around Boualem Sansal. The Franco-Algerian novelist and essayist, missing since his arrival in Algeria last Saturday, was reportedly arrested by local security forces upon his arrival at the airport, indicate our colleagues at Marianne.
The writer, who obtained French nationality in 2024, was very critical in his works towards the power in place in his native country. He was reportedly arrested at Algiers airport on Saturday when he had just landed from Paris.
“The President of the Republic is very worried and is monitoring the situation carefully,” Emmanuel Macron’s entourage told AFP. It was the head of state himself who naturalized Boualem Sansal this year. According to Marianne's information, the author was imprisoned following his arrest.
“Deeply worried about the disappearance of Boualem Sansal for six days in Algeria,” reacted former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on his X account (ex-Twitter). “A French-language engineer, teacher, writer, he embodies everything we cherish: the call to reason, freedom and humanism against censorship, corruption and Islamism (…) I am counting on the French and European authorities to obtain precise information and to ensure that he can move freely and return to France whenever he wishes. »
For several years, the Algerian government has targeted and censored authors who criticize the government through their publications. The writer Kamel Daoud, originally from Algeria and winner of the 2024 Goncourt Prize for his novel “Houris”, was banned from presenting his works at the Algiers international book fair.
Boualem Sansal, 75, has obtained several prestigious literary distinctions in France. He notably won the grand novel prize of the Académie française 2015 for his novel 2084: the end of the world.
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