Incarcerated in Algeria since mid-November, the novelist has caused great concern on the part of his support committee, which warns of a “risk of irreversible alteration” of his state of health.
In a press release published Monday, December 30 on X, the support committee for Boualem Sansal expressed its concern over a « risk of irreversible alteration » of the writer's state of health. Incarcerated in Algeria since mid-November, Boualem Sansal, aged 75, is seriously ill. His international support committee launched an urgent appeal to Emmanuel Macron and the European Union, urging them to intervene immediately to preserve his life, « for which concerns are major today ».
In mid-December, Boualem Sansal was hospitalized for the second time since his arrest. Antoine Gallimard, CEO of Editions Gallimard, declared during a public intervention that the author had been transferred at his request to a prison care unit located in a hospital in Algiers. The same day, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune qualified Boualem Sansal « of imposter sent by France »according to local media TSA. In a speech reported by this site, the Algerian president said: « You send an impostor who does not know his identity, does not know his father and claims that half of Algeria belongs to another state. »
These statements, seen as a direct attack, reinforced the concerns of the international support committee. He considers that these remarks confirm the status of political prisoner of Boualem Sansal, victim of a power that he describes as arbitrary and repressive.
Critic of the Algerian regime, Boualem Sansal was arrested for “attack on the integrity of the State”a reason that its support committee deemed “totally fanciful”. This committee brings together more than 1,000 members of different nationalities and intellectual affiliations. On Friday December 20, the city of Perpignan, particularly involved in the defense of the writer, unveiled a banner in his honor. Already named honorary citizen of the city, Boualem Sansal continues to benefit from broad support, in France and internationally.
France