A court in Algeria upheld French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal’s five-year prison sentence in a case that has raised alarm over freedom of expression in Algeria and pushed tensions with France to the brink. The ruling denies a request made by prosecutors at an appeal hearing last week. They asked a judge to give Sansal the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The issue arose last year when, in an interview with a French right-wing media outlet, Sansal questioned Algeria’s current borders, arguing that France had redrawn them during the colonial period to include lands that once belonged to Morocco. The 80-year-old dual citizen was arrested the following month and later lambasted by the president in a speech to Algeria’s parliament. The case has unfolded at a historic low point in Algeria’s relations with France, which were strained further over the disputed Western Sahara.
The arrest has brought new attention to the limits on freedom of expression in Algeria. Rights groups have said hundreds of journalists, activists, poets, and lawyers have been detained or imprisoned for speech-related offenses in recent years. That includes many facing terrorism charges similar to Sansal’s.
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