Author Boualem Sansal welcomed in France after release from Algerian prison

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PARIS (AP) — A French-Algerian novelist who was granted a humanitarian pardon last week in Algeria after a yearlong imprisonment returned to France on Tuesday and was received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee presidential palace, Macron's office said.

Boualem Sansal, 76, was released last week after Algeria ’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune granted him a humanitarian pardon in response to a German request. Sansal, who has cancer, first went to Berlin, where he received medical treatment. His attorney says his health has been deteriorating.

Macron expressed his gratitude in a statement “to all those who contributed to making that day possible,” especially German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, “whose good offices were decisive.”

The 76-year-old author — whose works have been critical of Islam, colonialism and contemporary Algerian leaders — was arrested at the airport in Algiers in November 2024 upon arrival from France. He was imprisoned for a year before his release.

He was convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions and was sentenced to five years in prison under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws in March.

Sansal’s Support Committee, a group of politicians, intellectuals and activists created to call for Sansal’s release, welcomed the author's return to France. “We send our fraternal greetings to Boualem and his family, who went through this long, unfair and painful ordeal with courage and dignity,” the group said in a statement.

Sansal’s case became a flashpoint as tensions spiked between France and Algeria last year. Macron and other French politicians urged authorities to free him. The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning his arrest. Literary colleagues, including Kamel Daoud, Salman Rushdie and PEN International, published open letters calling for his release.

It was ultimately an appeal from Germany that led Tebboune to act. Two days after Steinmeier asked for Sansal to be pardoned, citing his age and health problems, Tebboune cited humanitarian grounds and Germany’s request in issuing the pardon.