Nobel Prize winners for literature Annie Ernaux, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Orhan Pamuk et Wole Soyinkaas well as several writers including Salman Rushdie et Roberto Savianoasked the “ immediate release » by the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansalin a column published Saturday on the website of the weekly Point.
« Let us demand the immediate release of Boualem Sansal and all writers imprisoned for their ideas », they wrote in this text initiated by his compatriot Camel DaoudGoncourt Prize 2024 and columnist for Point.
« We cannot remain silent. Freedom, the right to culture and our lives, writers targeted by this terror, are at stake. “, they also added. According to several media, the 75-year-old writer was arrested on November 16 at Algiers airport, coming from France.
A ” arrest » confirmed Friday by the Algerian government agency APS, without specifying a date. The fate of Boualem Sansal, in the fight against religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism, worries political and literary circles.
In another column published in Le Figaro30 winners of the Grand Prix du roman of the French Academy also appeal to Algerian President Tebboune: “ We cannot conceive of a writer being arrested », they lament. In 2015, Boualem Sansal was awarded the grand novel prize of the Académie française for his novel 2084: the end of the world (Gallimard), tied with Hédi Kaddour for The preponderant (Gallimard).
Tense diplomatic context
Its publisher Gallimard expressed its “ worry very quickly » and called for “(his) immediate release”. Thursday, the president's entourage Emmanuel Macron announced that the latter was “ very concerned about (this) disappearance » and specified that “ State services are mobilized to clarify his situation », Which was confirmed by a French diplomatic source on Friday.
According to The Worldthe Algerian authorities could have taken his statements to the French media badly Bordersreputed to be far-right, which take up the Moroccan position according to which the country's territory was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria.
The official Algerian press agency APS criticized France on Friday for taking “ the defense of a Holocaust denier who calls into question the existence, independence, history, sovereignty and borders of Algeria », describing Boualem Sansal as “ useful puppet ».
These events take place in a tense diplomatic context between France and Algeria, after Paris' support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara at the end of July.
