AWhile the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal has been incarcerated in Algeria since November 16, the mobilization to obtain his release is gaining ground abroad, particularly in Germany. Several personalities from the world of culture signed a column published on November 27.
The signatories are German and international writers, journalists and representatives of cultural organizations. “There is only one thing we can say to the Algerian government: no writer should be imprisoned because of their opinions. We demand his immediate release! » they defend in the gallery. Boualem Sansal won the German Booksellers' Peace Prize in 2011.
Among the signatories are Canadian author Margaret Atwood, winner of the Peace Prize in 2017; the Austrian Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004; the novelist David Grossman, a figure in Israeli literature; the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006; journalist and writer Anne Elizabeth Applebaum, winner of the 2024 Peace Prize; or even Martin Schulz, former president of the European Parliament.
“We support Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French colleague Jean-Noël Barrot in their efforts to obtain information from the Algerian government on the fate of Boualem Sansal and to inform German and European public opinion of the Algerian government's response », details the text.
“Unacceptable” detention
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The signatories also ask that the writer be able to have access to independent legal representation, but also to his family, his friends and representatives of the French embassy. Aged 75, critic of the Algerian power, the Franco-Algerian writer, arrested at Algiers airport on November 16, was indicted and imprisoned on Tuesday, November 26, on the basis of article 87 bis of the Code Algerian criminal law which punishes attacks on state security and terrorism.
“Nothing in the activities of Boualem Sansal allows us to substantiate the accusations which have now led to his being imprisoned” in Algeria, where the writer was arrested in mid-November, declared the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on FranceinfoTV , adding that “the detention of a French writer without basis is simply unacceptable.” “The detention without serious basis of a writer is never acceptable,” reacted Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture.
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