This is Beirut - Algeria

Boualem Sansal: A Silenced Voice Honored in Paris

This is Beirut, 21/05 10:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Boualem Sansal Algeria Censorship Culture Prize France

Boualem Sansal, who has been jailed in Algeria for six months, was awarded the international Cino del Duca Prize on Wednesday. The French literary prize honors "the strength of a writer who (...) continues to make their free voice heard." Recognized for his entire body of work, Boualem Sansal joins the ranks of past laureates like Andrei ...

Algeria Targets Author Kamel Daoud in Legal Dispute

This is Beirut, 13/05 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Algeria France Writer Culture Art

Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, who is the subject of two international arrest warrants from Algeria and a legal complaint in France, called the legal actions against him “a form of judicial persecution” in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on Monday. Daoud, who won the 2024 Goncourt Prize, also described the legal saga as “a ...

France Expels 12 Algerian Officials and Recalls Envoy

This is Beirut, 15/04 20:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

France Algeria Emmanuel Macron diplomatic crisis

France's President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday decided to expel 12 Algerian consular and diplomatic officials and recalled the French ambassador in Algiers, his office said, as a spat escalates between the two countries. The retaliatory measure came after the former French colony on Sunday ordered 12 French officials from the interior ministry to ...

Algerian expulsion of French officials 'will have consequences': French FM

This is Beirut, 15/04 09:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

France Barrot Algeria

France's foreign minister on Tuesday slammed Algeria's decision to expel 12 French officials and warned of a riposte, as tensions mounted between Paris and its former North African colony. Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was "regrettable" and warned it "will not be without consequences", adding that if "Algeria chooses escalation, we will respond ...

France-Algeria: Efforts at Reconciliation Undermined by the Amir DZ Case

This is Beirut, 14/04 20:30 - Reading : less than a minute

France Algeria

Barely underway, the diplomatic reset between Paris and Algiers is already under serious strain. At the center of the tensions: the indictment in France of an Algerian consular agent over the alleged abduction of dissident Amir Boukhors, known as Amir DZ. Algeria has condemned what it calls “a serious violation of international law” and, in ...

Boualem Sansal’s Speech for Freedom Published in Bookstores

This is Beirut, 04/04 17:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Literature Edition Freedom Algeria France Boualem Sansal culture

This speech, given for “the German Publishers and Booksellers Peace Prize” and published in Gallimard’s Tracts collection, was originally delivered in Frankfurt, Germany, in October 2011. "The absence of freedom is a pain that drives one mad over time. It reduces a man to his shadow and his dreams to nightmares," Boualem Sansal declares in ...

Souad Massi Urges Paris and Algiers to Reconnect

This is Beirut, 30/03 10:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Concert France Algeria Berlin Music Culture

She is one of the artists who best embodies the deep bond—and tensions—between France and Algeria. Souad Massi says she feels "sad" about the current diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which, according to her, "should talk things through like a couple," as she told AFP in an interview. Performing at the Berlin Philharmonie on ...

Boualem Sansal: Five Years in Prison and an Unfolding Diplomatic Crisis

This is Beirut, 27/03 19:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Emmanuel Macron Boualem Sansal Algeria France

As Paris looked for signs of de-escalation from Algiers, the Dar al-Beïda court delivered its ruling. On Thursday, March 27, 2025, French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 500,000 dinars (approximately €3,470). The sentence falls short of the ten-year term requested by the public prosecutor a week ...

Algerian writer Boualem Sansal faces 10-year prison sentence

This is Beirut, 21/03 14:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Algeria France Writer Human Rights

Algerian prosecutors have requested a 10-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, accused of undermining the country's territorial integrity, local media reported Thursday. Sansal, a prominent figure in North African modern Francophone literature, is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as Islamists. The ...

Boualem Sansal Chooses to Defend Himself and Denies Hunger Strike

This is Beirut, 25/02 18:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Algeria Censorship Culture Art Writer Journalist

The French-Algerian writer, who has been in custody since mid-November, has not begun a hunger strike nor halted his medical treatment, as stated by his lawyer in Paris. Instead, he intends to represent himself, according to Mohamed Baghdadi, the head of the Algiers Bar Association. "Contrary to what has been reported, he is not on a hunger ...

Writers Rally as Boualem Sansal Begins Hunger Strike

This is Beirut, 24/02 14:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Algeria Censorship Writer Culture Art

Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, imprisoned in Algeria since mid-November, began a hunger strike on Monday, his lawyer told AFP on Sunday, citing information from a judicial source. "I fear for his health, as well as for the possibility of a fair trial," said François Zimeray, the writer’s French lawyer, confirming a report by Le Journal ...

Kamel Daoud Accused by Algerian Woman of Story Theft

This is Beirut, 15/02 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Culture Writing Algeria France Paris

Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud has been sued in France for invasion of privacy by Saâda Arbane, an Algerian woman who accuses him of stealing her story to form the core of his novel Houris, which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt last year. This lawsuit, also reported by the French media outlet Mediapart on Friday, has its first procedural ...

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