The persistent silence of the French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal, detained in Algeria, generates concern in political and literary circles

From the world of letters to the French presidency, concern reigns over the fate of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, about whom nothing has been heard for several days.

“The Gallimard editions express their deep concern following the arrest of the writer by the Algerian security services and ask that [sa] immediate release »wrote its editor on Friday, November 22, in a press release.

The 75-year-old writer was detained on Saturday, November 16 upon his arrival at Algiers airport from Paris, according to several sources he joined the worldconfirming the information provided by Marianne, Thursday, November 21. The Algerian government agency APS confirmed a “detention” of the writer “at Algiers airport”however, without giving a date.

No other official information has been leaked about the writer’s fate in the fight against religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism. His arrest could be linked to his controversial statements in the media Borders on YouTube, a few weeks ago, which take up the Moroccan position according to which the country’s territory was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria. It would be a “red line” for Algiers, which could lead to the perpetrator being accused of “attacking national integrity.”

Tense context

On Thursday afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron’s entourage announced that the latter was “very concerned about [cette] disappearance » and specified that “State services are mobilizing to clarify their situation”which was confirmed by a French diplomatic source on Friday. Several French politicians have expressed concern, notably former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

These events occur in a tense diplomatic context between France and Algeria, following Paris’ support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara at the end of July. The official Algerian press agency APS criticized France on Friday for taking “the defense of a Holocaust denier who questions the existence, independence, history, sovereignty and borders of Algeria”calling Mr. Sansal a “useful puppet”.

Among the authors there are also signs of support, such as the Frenchman Nicolas Mathieu, who speaks of ” trap “to the French-Moroccan Tahar Ben Jelloun, asking ” release “ Boualem Sansal. “His arrest bothers me. “The place of an intellectual is around a round table, around a debate of ideas and not in prison.”declared his compatriot Yasmina Khadra to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In The pointthe French-Algerian Kamel Daoud denounced that his ” brother “ any “behind bars, like all of Algeria”.

A committed job

Its publisher Gallimard was excluded from the Algiers International Book Fair this fall. Kamel Daoud is also the subject of two complaints in Algeria that accuse him, along with his psychiatrist wife, of having used a patient’s history to hourisa novel that evokes the civil war in the country, Goncourt Prize – the most prestigious French literary award – in 2024.

Boualem Sansal is a great voice in contemporary French-speaking literature, author of a work committed against obscurantism and for democracy, without taboos, sometimes caustic.

Born in 1949 in Theniet El Had, to a father of Moroccan origin and a mother of French education, he began writing at the age of 48 and published his first novel, The Oath of the Barbarianstwo years later. It chronicles the rise to power of the fundamentalists that helped plunge Algeria into a “black decade” having caused 200,000 deaths between 1992 and 2002.

After a career as a teacher, company director and senior civil servant, he was fired from the Algerian Ministry of Industry in 2003 for his critical position on power. In 2019 he participated in the protests in Algiers that led to the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

declared atheist

Among his titles, The German people (2008), censored in its country of origin, invokes the Shoah, the civil war in Algeria and the life of Algerians in the French suburbs. In 2084, the end of the world (2015), denounces the threat of religious radicalism for democracies, imagining Islamism in power.

His warnings against this danger earned this supposed atheist strong enmities. And the support of right-wing and far-right intellectuals and media, who applaud his statements in a “Islamic order” Who would try it? “Settle in France”.

In Algeria, threats have increased since he traveled to Israel to receive a literary award in 2014. Boualem Sansal tirelessly defends himself against suspicions of Islamophobia. “I have never said anything against Islam that justifies this accusation” but, “What I have never stopped denouncing is the exploitation of Islam for political and social purposes”he explained to AFP in 2017.