Boualem Sansal gave his first interview to France Télévisions since his release some ten days ago. The author admits that “it was difficult to return to life as a free man after a year of imprisonment in Algeria.
“I was cut off from the outside world,” the former senior official told Laurent Delahousse, explaining that he had “no contact with other prisoners”. “I don’t even have a lawyer,” he added, after explaining that he was in good health following his prostate cancer treatment.
“I control every word I say,” explains Boualem Sansal. “I’m afraid for my family, if I go back to Algeria with my wife, I’m afraid they will arrest her too,” the writer worries.
“I think of Christophe Glaize and he is not the only one, there are several dozen political prisoners,” the author added, mentioning the French journalist detained in Algeria for “apologizing for terrorism”.
“I have always supported reconciliation between France and Algeria,” he explained, saying that while he criticized the “dictatorship”, it was not Algeria that criticized him.
Imprisoned in Algeria for a year for certain positions in his home country, Boualem Sansal, 81, was released on November 12. He was pardoned by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who responded favorably to requests from German authorities.
The writer, who was at the heart of the diplomatic crisis between Algiers and Paris, returned to France on Tuesday 18 November, after first being transferred to Berlin for medical treatment. He was received by Emmanuel Macron on his return, which was done quietly, without the presence of the media.
Boualem Sansal “is aware that he is in a context that is very marked by the difficulty of Franco-Algerian relations and that this context may be weighing on his public expression,” said Arnaud Benedetti, founder of his support committee, who spoke to him by telephone on Friday.
A “Monitored” media tour.
A longer version of the interview given to France 2 is to be broadcast at 9 p.m. at franceinfo. This Monday, Boualem Sansal will also be received on France Inter at 8:20, public radio announced. According to La Tribune Dimanche newspaper, he will also speak at Le Figaro on Monday.
“This is a media program that I think is quite structured,” said the founder of the support committee, chaired by former minister Noëlle Lenoir. “We are at a moment where France is trying to resume talks in a slightly more peaceful way with Algeria than in recent months, France may hope that no action can hinder this small beginning of the resumption of dialogue”, continued Benedetti, stressing that it was only a “conjecture”.
French-Algerian Relations
A dissident writer who admired Camus and Orwell, a polemicist revered by the French right, Boualem Sansal served a five-year prison sentence in Algeria, primarily for “undermining national unity”.
The novelist was convicted because in October 2024 he had stated to the French right-wing media Frontières that Algeria inherited French colonial territory that previously, according to him, belonged to Morocco.
The former senior official in Algeria was arrested on November 16 2024 upon arrival at Algiers airport before being imprisoned, exacerbating the diplomatic chill between France and its former colony.
Shortly after his release, Boualem Sansal told compatriot Kamel Daoud, winner of the 2024 Goncourt Prize, that he hoped relations between France and Algeria would “develop”, according to comments reported in Le Point by Daoud.
The release of Boualem Sansal revived hope for journalist Christophe Gleizes, who remains detained in Algeria. A contributor to So Foot and Society magazine, at the end of June he was sentenced to seven years in prison in the country, mainly for “apologizing for terrorism”. His appeal hearing will take place on December 3.
