Press release of 1, Juli 2025
Boualem Sansal’s five-year prison sentence confirmed
Today, the Court of Appeal in Algiers confirmed the five-year prison sentence without parole handed down to French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. This upholds the sentence issued on 27 March 2025. PEN Berlin and the German Publishers and Booksellers Association once again condemn this sentence in the strongest possible terms.
The charges included »violating national unity«. The trial was sparked by comments Sansal made in an interview with the French media Frontières in October 2024, in which he said, among other things, that Algeria had gained territory that originally belonged to Morocco under French colonial rule.
Both Sansal and the public prosecutor’s office appealed against the initial verdict: Sansal in the hope of an acquittal and the public prosecutor’s office because they considered the five-year sentence insufficient; they had originally demanded ten years’ imprisonment.
PEN Berlin spokesperson Thea Dorn said: »Convicting a writer for an interview in which he neither incites hatred against the Algerian state nor spreads hatred in any other way is a political scandal. Anyone who treats critical voices in this way has no interest in the rule of law. Boualem Sansal does not belong in prison, but deserves the Ordre du Mérite national.«
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, head of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, said: »The Algerian judiciary has confirmed the five-year prison sentence against Peace Prize winner Boualem Sansal. This is an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression and human rights.” Sansal is a writer who has offered a historical perspective. A seriously ill, internationally recognised author must not be allowed to become a political pawn – his voice must continue to be heard.«
We call on Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show a gesture of humanity and release Boualem Sansal as part of the pardons traditionally granted on Algeria’s national holiday on 5 July.
PEN Berlin and the German Publishers and Booksellers Association