Boualem Sansal was at the heart of a diplomatic rift between Algiers and Paris. The 81-year-old writer was imprisoned for a year in Algeria, accused of “undermining national unity” after an interview given to the French far-right media outlet Frontières.
In that interview, he stated that Algeria “inherited under French colonization regions previously belonging to Morocco, such as Oran and Mascara.” After a year of negotiations, he was ultimately pardoned by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 12 November, thanks to the intercession of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Boualem Sansal was diagnosed with prostate cancer, discovered while he was in prison.
Editorial team/le7tv