French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who was pardoned and released on Wednesday by Algeria after a year in captivity, is “pretty well” and hopes to arrive in France on Friday or Saturday, he said late Thursday in a telephone conversation with colleague and supporter Kamel Daoud that was transcribed in Le Point. “My agenda is not consolidated, because there is a political side that comes first, but I will be in Paris in the next day or two,” Sansal said from Berlin, according to comments reported on the magazine’s website.
Kamel Daoud, French-Algerian writer and winner of the 2024 Goncourt Prize, explained that he managed to make telephone contact with Boualem Sansal through one of his friends in Berlin. Aged 81, Boualem Sansal arrived in the German capital on Wednesday evening to receive medical treatment before a possible return to France. “Hello France, Boualem will be back, we will win!”, he said.
The author assured that he did “quite well”. “I’m strong, you know. I won’t break down in just one year in prison. » He also spoke about the conditions of his imprisonment, which were characterized by isolation. “I was like cut off from the world, except for visits from Naziha (Editor’s note: his wife),” he explained. “I was in a very high security area. “I wasn’t allowed to talk to other prisoners too often,” he added.
Sansal is optimistic about French-Algerian relations
The writer was sentenced to five years in prison for “undermining national unity” after comments he made in October 2024 to the French right-wing media outlet Frontières. He claimed that Algeria inherited certain territories in the west of the country, especially Oran and Mascara, which he believed previously belonged to Morocco.
His family has repeatedly expressed concern for the health of the novelist and essayist, who is being treated for prostate cancer. An award-winning figure in the field of French-language North African literature, Sansal is known for his criticism of the Algerian government and Islamist groups. He obtained French citizenship in 2024.
His detention exacerbates a dispute between Paris and Algeria sparked in July 2024 when France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. “I hope that relations between France and Algeria will develop thanks to Germany and our diplomacy,” he said. “I hope. I was told a little about the negotiations. There was a good astral crossing. »
