Algeria Pardons French-Algerian Novelist Sansal After Year in Jail

Published: 13 November 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Almost a year after French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was arrested on arrival at Algiers airport, the Algerian presidency has granted him a pardon and allowed him to leave the country.

Sansal, 81, had been at the centre of a bitter diplomatic row between Paris and Algiers. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s decision to pardon him followed a direct request from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Sansal arrived in Germany on a military plane on Wednesday evening.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Sansal by phone, expressed gratitude for his release. “I thank President Tebboune for this act of humanity,” Macron said, highlighting that France had sought to lower tensions with Algeria through respect and calm diplomacy.

While France had been engaging diplomatically for months, it was Germany’s role that ultimately secured Sansal’s release due to Steinmeier’s strong personal relations with Algeria’s leadership. Élysée Palace sources described Steinmeier as acting as a “trusted third party” rather than just a mediator.

Steinmeier had requested that Tebboune pardon Sansal due to his advanced age and fragile health so he could receive medical treatment in Germany, where he is now being treated for prostate cancer.

Sansal was sentenced to five years in jail in July for allegedly undermining national unity with remarks questioning Algeria’s borders. The novelist has been a long-standing critic of the Algerian government, which had previously ignored France’s appeals for clemency.

Relations between France and Algeria had already been strained after President Macron recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supported a plan for limited autonomy in the disputed region. Algeria, backing the pro-independence Polisario Front, saw this as a provocation.

Tensions escalated further in April after Algeria expressed outrage over the arrest in France of one of its consular staff, linked to the alleged kidnapping of a government critic in Paris. The crisis was considered unprecedented in more than 60 years since Algeria’s independence in 1962.

Some French commentators attributed the confrontation to a hardline stance by right-wing figures, including former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. Algerian minister Sofiane Chaib also blamed Retailleau earlier this year for creating what he called a “fabricated spat.”

At the end of last month, a motion by France’s National Rally opposing a 1968 Franco-Algerian migration accord narrowly passed in parliament. However, replacing Retailleau with Laurent Nuñez as interior minister signaled a potential shift in French-Algerian relations. Former diplomat Jean-Christophe Ruffin noted that Nuñez had “completely changed the way relations with Algeria are handled.”

Retailleau expressed “immense relief and great joy” at Sansal’s release. Nonetheless, tensions persist, as French sportswriter Christophe Gleizes remains jailed in Algeria for allegedly attempting to interview a member of a movement classified as a terrorist group. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot praised the diplomatic efforts behind Sansal’s release and affirmed that attention remains on Gleizes’ case, hoping for his imminent freedom.